The Validity of the Quick-FAAM in Patients Seeking Treatment for an Acute or Subacute Foot or Ankle Health Condition

CONTEXT: Documented barriers to implementation of patient-reported outcome instruments (PROs) in practice include administration and scoring time. The Quick Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (Quick-FAAM) was developed to decrease these barriers; however, the clinometric properties in an acute population are unknown. PURPOSE: To determine the internal consistency, validity, and the floor and ceiling effects of the Quick-FAAM in patients seeking treatment for an acute or subacute ankle or foot health condition. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-Sectional. SETTING: Healthcare facilities. PATIENTS: 50 patients (20.3 ± 2.2 y, 177.9 ± 10.7 cm, 80 ± 19.4 kg) seeking treatment for an acute or subacute ankle or foot condition. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Each patient completed a demographic and health-history questionnaire followed by 5 PROs: the Quick-FAAM, the FAAM-Activities of Daily Living (ADL), FAAM-Sport, the modified Disablement in the Physically Active Scale (mDPA), the Short-Form 12 (SF-12) and the PROMISv1.2 Physical Function (PROMIS-PF). Cronbach alpha was used to determine internal consistency and Spearman’s rank correlations were performed to examine the relationship between the Quick-FAAM and all other outcomes. RESULTS: The Quick-FAAM was very strongly correlated with the FAAM-Total (r = .91, r2 = .83, P < .001), FAAM-ADL (r = .83, r2 = .69, P < .001), FAAM-Sport (r = .89, r2 = .79, P < .001), SF12-Physical Component Score (PCS, r = .74, r2 = .55, P < .001), mDPA-PCS (r = -.83, r2 = .69, P < .001) and PROMIS PF (r = .85, r2 = .72, P < .001). There was a weak or no relationship with the SF12-Mental Component Score (MCS, r = .04, r2 = .00, P < .001) and the mDPA-MCS (r = -.35, r2 = .12, P < .001). A total of 8% (n = 4) of the patients scored a 0, and 2% (n = 1) patients scored a 48. CONCLUSION: he Quick-FAAM demonstrated good convergent and divergent validity along with good internal consistency. There was no evidence of a floor or ceiling effect. Therefore, the Quick-FAAM should be considered for use in practice when determining treatment effectiveness for patients with acute or subacute ankle or foot health conditions. Future research should determine the test-retest reliability and the minimal detectable change of this instrument.