• Measure of arm and hand function in individuals with tetraplegia.
  • Consists of 9 subclasses:
    1. Self-care
    2. Dressing
    3. Continence
    4. Mobility
    5. Eating and drinking
    6. Work/admin/telecom
    7. Leisure
    8. Household
    9. Miscellaneous.

Clinical Considerations

  • Test is specific to the tetraplegic population (items were identified by client population) so this test is likely to be acceptable to individuals with SCI.
  • The test may not be useful when the individual is an in-patient as exposure to out of facility activities (i.e. community living, work, leisure) is required.

ICF Domain

Activity ▶ Mobility

Administration

  • Self-report
  • Clinician asks individuals about level of difficulty, item importance and need for assistance.

Number of Items

153

Equipment

None

Scoring

  • Items are scored based on 3 dimensions:
    1. Performance or Doing (0 =  without difficulty to 3 = help from others);
    2. Use of an aid (0 = never to 3 = always);
    3. Importance of performing activity independently (0 = not important to 2 = very important).

Languages

English

Training Required

Does not require advanced training.

Availability

Can be found in the appendix of the following article: Tetraplegia Hand Activity Questionnaire (THAQ): the development, assessment of arm-hand function-related activities in tetraplegic patients with a spinal cord injury – PubMed (nih.gov)

# of studies reporting psychometric properties: 1

Interpretability

  • Lower scores indicate a higher level of independence.
  • No meaningful cut-points or norms have been established for the SCI population.

MCID: not established for SCI
SEM: not established for SCI
MDC: not established for SCI

Reliability

No values were reported for the reliability of the THAQ for the SCI population.

Validity

Experts were consulted to ensure content validity for the THAQ. The expert panel found activities relevant for evaluation in individuals with tetraplegia, not covered in other literature, to be used as THAQ items (69%), particularly within the domains leisure, work/administration/telecom, and continence, with 100%, 88% and 87% new items, respectively.

(Land et al. 2004)

Responsiveness

No values were reported for the responsiveness of the THAQ for the SCI population.

Floor/Ceiling Effect

No values were reported for the presence of floor/ceiling effects in the THAQ for the SCI population.

Reviewers

Dr. Janice Eng, Matthew Querée

Date Last Updated

1 December 2016

Land NE, Odding E, Duivenvoorden HJ, Bergen MP, Stam HJ. Tetraplegia Hand Activity Questionnaire (THAQ): the development, assessment of arm-hand function-related activities in tetraplegic patients with a spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord 2004;42:294-301.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14993892

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