The Jacket Test for assessing people with chronic stroke

Purpose: (1) To examine the intra-rater, inter-rater and test–retest reliability of Jacket Test times with 28 people with chronic stroke. (2) To determine the correlation of Jacket Test time with stroke-specific impairments. (3) To construct the optimal cutoff time for the Jacket Test that best discriminated 28 people with stroke from 30 healthy older adults. Methods: The Jacket Test completion times were measured along with the Fugl–Meyer Upper Extremity Assessment, hand grip strength, 5-times Sit-to-stand test, Berg Balance Scale and timed “up and go” test, and Community Integration Measure using the cross-sectional design. Results: The Jacket Test completion times showed excellent intra-rater, inter-rater and test–retest reliability (Intra-class Correlation Coefficient = 0.781–1.000). The unaffected-side Jacket Test times were significantly correlated with FMA-UE score, affected hand grip strength, Berg Balance Scale score, timed “up and go” test times and Community Integration Measure score. The affected-side Jacket Test times significantly correlated with affected hand grip strength. The cutoff time of 18.33s in affected side and 18.38s for unaffected side (sensitivity 96.7%; specificity 85.7–96.4%) was used to best discriminate the subjects with stroke and healthy older adults. Conclusion: The Jacket Test is a reliable and valid measure tool in clinic to evaluate the upper extremity function in people with chronic stroke. Implication for rehabilitation The Jacket Test completion times has excellent intra-rater, inter-rater and test–retest reliabilities in patients with chronic stroke. The Jacket Test completion times significantly correlated with motor functions of the upper limbs. The Jacket Test completion times of 18.33s in affected side and 18.38s for unaffected side (sensitivity 96.7%; specificity 85.7%-96.4%) was found to be the most representative for discriminating chronic stroke survivors and healthy older adults. The Jacket Test is a reliable and valid measuring tool to evaluate the upper extremity function of people with chronic stroke.