Validity and reliability of instruments aimed at measuring Evidence-Based Practice in Physical Therapy: a systematic review of the literature.

ABSTRACT

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: Our goal is to compile and analyse the characteristics - especially validity and reliability - of all the existing international tools that have been used to measure evidence-based clinical practice in physiotherapy. METHODS: A systematic review conducted with data from exclusively quantitative-type studies synthesized in narrative format. An in-depth search of the literature was conducted in two phases initial, structured, electronic search of databases and also journals with summarized evidence; followed by a residual-directed search in the bibliographical references of the main articles found in the primary search procedure. The studies included were assigned to members of the research team who acted as peer reviewers. Relevant information was extracted from each of the selected articles using a template that included the general characteristics of the instrument as well as an analysis of the quality of the validation processes carried out, by following the criteria of Terwee. RESULTS: Twenty-four instruments were found to comply with the review screening criteria; however, in all cases, they were found to be limited as regards the 'constructs' included. Besides, they can all be seen to be lacking as regards comprehensiveness associated to the validation process of the psychometric tests used. CONCLUSION: It seems that what constitutes a rigorously developed assessment instrument for EBP in physical therapy continues to be a challenge.