Objective: To study the item-level psychometric properties of the Communicative Effectiveness Survey-Revised (CESR), the first patient reported outcome measure for people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and communication deficits.

Background: 80% of people with PD will have problems communicating. If a person cannot communicate effectively with healthcare providers it may result in decreased access to and quality of medical care, and lead to decreased quality of life, isolation and depression. A measure of communicative effectiveness is needed by healthcare providers to ensure that people with PD are able to communicate effectively to maintain their health and independence.

Methods: Prospective, between-group study, approved by the university’s Institutional Review Board, informed consent obtained. 123 participants 65 to 89 years old (63 NOPD, 60 PD). Inclusion criteria: no active or prior neurological disorders; hearing and vision within functional limits; passed cognitive, apathy, and depression screenings; PD group only: stable on medications, Hoehn & Yahr ratings and Dysarthria Severity Ratings 1-4.

Results: Based on one factor, Rasch Analysis resulted in strong item-level psychometric properties. Evidence for content validity: item mean and person means within 1 logit, minimal ceiling and floor effects, items tapped a wide range of person ability (7 logits) and item difficulty (5 logits), person reliability (comparable to Cronbach’s alpha) .93; person separation index of 3.65=4 statistically significantly different ability groups. Evidence of content validity: significant positive correlation between a priori item difficulty hierarchy and Rash modeled item hierarchy (rs=0.96, df=25, p< .01). Evidence of construct validity: mean CESR ratings for NOPD group (M=85.79, SD=11.117) was significantly higher than the PD group (M= 71.93 SD=13.65) [t(121)= -6.187,p< .001].

Conclusions: The 27-item CESR is the first objective measure of communicative effectiveness with demonstrated validity and reliability for individuals with Parkinson’s disease and dysarthria. Its intervality will make it useful to healthcare providers interested in reporting pre- and post-treatment changes with confidence.

Portions of this research were previously presented at the World Parkinson’s Congress, Montreal, Canada (2013) and the 2014 American Speech-Language Hearing Convention, Orlando, FL.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-communicative-effectiveness-survey-revised-cesr-an-objective-measure-of-communicative-participation-for-people-with-parkinsons-disease/