Article

Bimanual coordination underlies many daily activities. It is tested by various
versions of the old Minnesota Dexterity Test (dating back to 1931, 'turning'
subtest). This, however, is ill standardized, may be time-consuming, and has poor
normative data. A timed-revised form of the turning subtest (MTTrf) is presented.
Age-related norms and test-retest reliability were computed. Sixty-four healthy
individuals, 24-79 years, comprising 34 women, were required to pick up 60 small
plastic disks from wells, rotate each disk, and transfer it to the other hand,
which must replace it, as quickly as possible. Two trials were requested for each
hand (ABBA sequence). The average time (seconds) across the 4 trials gave the
test score. Participants were grouped (CART algorithm) into 3 statistically
distinct (P<0.05) agexscore strata, with cutoff 53+ and 73+ years, and tested at
baseline and after 1 week. Test-retest reliability was measured both as
consistency [intraclass correlation coefficient (ICCs) model 2.1] and as
agreement (Bland-Altman plot). From the ICCs, the individual test-retest minimal
real difference (in seconds) was computed. The whole MTTrf took less than 4 min
to administer. Baseline scores ranged from 40 to 78 s. The ICCs ranged from 0.45
to 0.81 and the minimal real difference ranged from 6.68 to 13.40 s across the
age groups. Fifty-nine out of 64 observations (92%) fell within the confidence
limits of the Bland-Altman plot. The MTTrf is a reliable and practical test of
bimanual coordination. It may be a useful addition to protocols of manual testing
in occupational therapy.

Langue : ANGLAIS