A new physical and cognitive activities score: the Sofmer activity score (SAS). The feasilibity study

Introduction/Background For hospitalizations in Rehabilitation Centers (RCs), the quantification of the health care givers’ activity is based on the variable dependency of the patients. The tools currently used to quantify it are not sufficiently precise. The stages of the construction of a new tool, the SAS scoring (SOFMER Activity Score), which allows for a better description of the level of activity of patients hospitalized in RCs, are presented, as is a feasibility study. Material and Method After a study group proposed the first version, the validity of the SAS scoring's content was studied using the Delphi consensus method. The feasibility study was prospective and multi-site. Data related to the SAS scoring performed by a multidisciplinary team were collected and compared to a part of patients’ medico-administrative data related to dependency (AVQ scale). Results Eighty patients were included in the feasibility study. The average duration of the SAS scoring was 4.5 ± 3.3 min. For 97.5% of scorings, the participating professional judged that the SAS scoring was either compatible or fairly compatible with clinical practice. The internal structure of the SAS scale appears to be better than that of the AVQ scale, for which our study confirms a floor effect for all items. Conclusion The SAS score allows the measurement of the level of physical and cognitive activity of a patient hospitalized in RC. If the validation studies for the SAS scoring, which explore its reliability, its construct validity or criterion validity, confirm the tool's good metrological qualities, the SAS scoring will allow a better quantification of the care load.