Knols
Fakultäten » Medizinische Fakultät » Rheumaklinik und Institut für physikalische Medizin » PD Dr. Daniel Uebelhart (ausgetreten) » Knols
Completed research project
| Title / Titel | Reliability of hand held dynamometer muscle testing and continuous ambulatory activity monitoring with a microprocessor linked Step Watch Activity Monitor (SAM) in cancer. | ||||||
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| Abstract (PDF, 14 KB) | |||||||
| Summary / Zusammenfassung | For many people with cancer, regular exercise is beneficial. It is an effective way to counteract the negative effects of inactivity in chronic illness. Too much rest and lack of physical activity may result in loss of function in the person with a chronic illness. Hence, patients are being encouraged more and more to be physically active. One of the major challenges for researchers in the field of rehabilitation is to provide empirical evidence of the efficacy of exercise programs. The reliance on self-report rather than objective measures of exercise behaviour and medical information may be imprecise. This is why future studies should use objective measures to verify exercise levels and be prospective. The accuracy and reliability of “StepWatch” activity monitoring in different patient groups indicates that there is good potential for their use in the quantification of home/community based activity levels and changes in these activity levels. However, the reliability that has been established on subjects from e.g. a stroke population cannot automatically be attributed to other populations; e.g. cancer survivors. To the best of our knowledge no study has formally assessed more informative indices of reliability for the Step Activity Monitor (SAM) in cancer patients, who may benefit from supportive programmes containing elements of physical exercise. This study, therefore, wants to further investigate the reliability and (construct) validity of an activity monitor estimating long term ambulatory function with the aim of providing insight into motor function and into measurable changes in physical activity levels due to exercise programs in a population of cancer survivors. The following hypotheses will guide our study: 1) The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) of the SAM measurements in cancer patients > 0.8; 2) The Smallest Detectable Difference (SDD) and limits of agreement of the SAM < 10% of the patients average walking activity scores; 3) The differences in SAM measures (needed to determine the construct validity) between the control subjects and the cancer patient groups > 0.05. Data for this study will be collected based on a cross-sectional design. The SAM that we propose in this request offers the possibility of minute-to-minute information about the frequency, duration, or intensity of activity. In case the SAM provides reliable and valid measures of physical activity in the sedentary sub-population of cancer patients, as we expect, we will have a tool with which it is possible to measure and quantify changes in physical activity levels that are supposedly induced by targeted exercise training programmes. |
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| Keywords / Suchbegriffe | Cancer, physical activity, monitoring, reliability | ||||||
| Project leadership and contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte |
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| Funding source(s) / Unterstützt durch |
Other Public Sources (e.g. Federal or Cantonal Agencies) ETH |
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| In collaboration with / In Zusammenarbeit mit |
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| Duration of Project / Projektdauer | Jun 2006 to Jul 2007 |