Validity and Responsiveness of the Revised Nottingham Sensation Assessment for Outcome Evaluation in Stroke Rehabilitation Ching-yi Wu, I-ching Chuang, Hui-ing Ma, Keh-chung Lin, Chia-ling Chen MeSH TERMS  activities of daily living  outcome assessment (health care)  psychomotor performance  sensation  somatosensory disorders  stroke Ching-yi Wu, ScD, is Professor and Chair, Department of Occupational Therapy and Graduate Institute of Behavioral Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. I-ching Chuang, PhD, is Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Occupational Therapy and Graduate Institute of Behavioral Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Hui-ing Ma, ScD, is Professor, School of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. Keh-chung Lin, ScD, is Professor, School of Occupational Therapy, and Director, Division of General Affairs, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, and Division of Occupational Therapy, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; kehchunglin@ntu.edu.tw Chia-ling Chen, MD, PhD, is Professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, and Chair, Graduate Institute of Early Intervention, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. OBJECTIVE. This study establishes the concurrent validity, predictive validity, and responsiveness of the Revised Nottingham Sensation Assessment (rNSA) during rehabilitation for people with stroke. METHOD. The study recruited 147 patients with stroke. The main assessment used was the rNSA, and outcome measures were the Fugl-Meyer Assessment sensory subscale (FMA–S) and motor subscale (FMA–M) and the Nottingham Extended Activities of Daily Living (NEADL) scale. RESULTS. Correlation coefficients were good to excellent between the rNSA and the FMA–S. The rNSA proprioception measure was a predictor for the FMA–S. The rNSA stereognosis and tactile-pinprick measures for the proximal upper limb were predictors for the FMA–M and the NEADL scale, respectively. Responsive- ness was moderate to large for three subscales of the rNSA (standardized response mean 5 .51–.83). CONCLUSION. This study may support the concurrent validity, predictive validity, and responsiveness of the rNSA for people with stroke. Wu, C.-Y., Chuang, I.-C., Ma, H.-I., Lin, K.-C., & Chen, C.-L. (2016). Validity and responsiveness of the Revised Nottingham Sensation Assessment for outcome evaluation in stroke rehabilitation. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 70, 7002290040. http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2016.018390 T he somatosensory system processes sensory information received from the body and plays an important role in typical movements (Gaubert & Mockett, 2000). The prevalence of somatosensory impairments is high in people with stroke (Carey, 1995; Yekutiel, 2000). Somatosensory impairments are associ- ated with disrupted motor learning (Scalha, Miyasaki, Lima, & Borges, 2011; Vidoni & Boyd, 2009; Welmer, Holmqvist, & Sommerfeld, 2008), influencing the abilities of the patient to perform everyday activities, such as personal care, and leading to a poor rehabilitation outcome (Carey, 1995; Kalra & Crome, 1993; Patel, Duncan, Lai, & Studenski, 2000; Sommerfeld & von Arbin, 2004; Tyson, Hanley, Chillala, Selley, & Tallis, 2008). Somatosensory capacity is thought to be a precursor to the recovery of movement and functional recovery and is possibly a predictor of rehabilitation outcomes (Peurala, Pitka ¨nen, Sivenius, & Tarkka, 2002; Smania, Montagnana, Faccioli, Fiaschi, & Aglioti, 2003). Assessing somatosensory impairments after stroke is essential in helping to plan an effective intervention and in evaluating the effect of rehabilitation (Bentzel, 2002). Clinical administration of sensory evaluation in people after stroke should be a common and routine task. Sensation may be classified into three modalities: superficial sensation, pro- prioceptive sensation, and cortical sensory functions (Bigley, 1990). An evaluation of all three modalities has been suggested in people with stroke for identification of somatosensory impairments (Bigley, 1990). Several clinical assessments of The American Journal of Occupational Therapy 7002290040p1 Downloaded From: http://ajot.aota.org/ on 02/01/2016 Terms of Use: http://AOTA.org/terms