Article ID: 23038
Objective：To evaluate the reliability and concurrent validity of the Walking LEVEL Scale (WaLS) in patients hospitalized in a Convalescent Rehabilitation Ward (CRW).
Design：The WaLS was used as an assessment scale to categorize the walking ability of patients in a CRW.
Subjects/Patients：A total of 103 patients in a CRW were included in the study.
Methods：Retest and inter-rater reliability were evaluated by using the WaLS to assess patients by the same rater and by two independent raters using the weighted kappa coefficient. Spearman correlation was used to assess the correlation between the WaLS and FIM-walk item scores and the WaLS and FAC scores (i.e., concurrent validity).
Results：The retest and inter-rater reliability of the WaLS (weighted kappa coefficient) was 0.989 (p＜0.01) and 0.951 (p＜0.01), respectively. The WaLS scores were also significantly correlated with the FIM-walk item (p＝0.916, p＜0.01) and FAC scores (p＝0.919, p＜0.01)．
Conclusion：The WaLS was found to demonstrate good reliability and concurrent validity in patients hospitalized in CRW.
