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RehabMeasures Instrument

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Purpose

The Floor Transfer Test assesses the functional ability of older adults to sit down on, and rise from, the floor in order to screen out those at greater risk of falling.  

Measures the time necessary to sit on the floor from a standing start and then return to standing in any ways the patient prefers.

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Instrument Details

Acronym FTT

Area of Assessment

Balance – Vestibular
Dexterity
Functional Mobility

Assessment Type

Performance Measure

Administration Mode

Paper & Pencil

Cost

Free

Diagnosis/Conditions

  • Stroke Recovery

Populations

Key Descriptions

  • During the Floor Transfer Test, an individual is instructed to transfer from a standing position to a sitting position on the floor mat and then return to standing in the way that he or she prefers.
  • A chair should be placed nearby to be used for support.
  • Time to complete one sequence is measured.
  • Collect time data for three trials and calculate the average of the three trials.
  • If the individual requires assistance for any part of the sequence, the test should be stopped.

Number of Items

1

Equipment Required

  • Stop Watch
  • Chair
  • Floor Mat

Time to Administer

Less than 5 minutes

Required Training

No Training

Age Ranges

Adult

18 - 64

years

Elderly Adult

65 +

years

Instrument Reviewers

Evan Papa, DPT, PhD for The University of North Texas Health Science Center, DPT Class of 2016.

ICF Domain

Activity

Measurement Domain

Motor

Considerations

Chronic Stroke: (Ng, 2015)

  • The cut off time recommended should be used only for differentiating the healthy older adults from people with stroke rather than for categorizing the severity of stroke impairment.
  • Each subject had to perform the FTT 3 times, so there may have been a degree of learning and fatigue effect.

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Stroke

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Standard Error of Measurement (SEM)

Chronic Stroke: (Ng, Fong, et al., 2015)

  • Calculated SEM = 2.917 s

Minimal Detectable Change (MDC)

Chronic Stroke: (Ng, 2015)

  • MDC: 7.7 seconds (95% Confidence Interval)

Cut-Off Scores

Chronic Stroke: (Ng, 2015)

  • An FTT completion time of 8.8 s is able to differentiate reliably between people with chronic stroke and healthy elderly adults (sensitivity 91.5%, specificity 71.8%).
  • > 8.8 s indicates a person with chronic stroke
  • Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for the Floor Transfer Test (FTT) completion times of healthy older adults and people with stroke.
    • Area under the curve (AUC) = 0.881

Normative Data

Chronic Stroke (Ng, et al., 2015) (n= 47 (31 Men, 16 women); Mean Age = 61.4, SD= 6.6; Mean Post Stroke Duration = 9.1, SD= 3.5)

  • Mean FTT Completion Time in Seconds= 20.9 (13.6)

Test/Retest Reliability

Chronic Stroke: (Ng, 2015)

  • Excellent test-retest reliability (ICC = .954)

Interrater/Intrarater Reliability

Chronic Stroke: (Ng, 2015)

  • Excellent intra-rater reliability (ICC = .855 - .895)
  • Excellent inter-rater reliability (ICC = 1.00)

Bibliography

Ng, S., Shirley, S., et al. (2015). “Floor Transfer Test for Assessing People with Chronic Stroke.” J Rehabil Med; 47(6): 489 - 494.