Undergraduate Physiotherapy Research Project Collaboration: The exploration of the Modified Total Body Rotation Test (MTBRT) for use with older people within the community

Background – Undergraduate physiotherapy (UGP) research projects are a valuable means of exploring areas of interest. Collaborative studies can act as initial pilot studies prior to full investigation on targeted populations. Ten Cardiff University (CU) UGP students investigated various aspects of the MTBRT, an outcome measure used in the USA with Older Adults in the community. Aims/Objectives – To explore the Reliability and Validity of the MTBRT. Methods- 3 Correlation studies were undertaken over 3 years; 57 healthy CU staff and students aged between 20 – 59 years participated within the 3 reliability studies: intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of the MTBRT, and intra-rater reliability of the seated MTBRT (sMTBRT); and 7 concurrent validity studies: MTBRT v Timed Up and Go; 4 Square Step; sMTBRT; 5x Sit to Stand; Step test; COP total excursion; and Functional reach tests. Results – Intra-rater reliability was high for both MTBRT (ICC 0.903, p= 0.00) and sMTBRT (ICC 0.951, p= 0.00). Inter-rater reliability was also high (ICC 1.00, p= 0.00) for the MTBRT. For concurrent validity, correlation was moderate with TUG (r= -.559, p= 0.01), 4SST (r= -0.692, p= 0.001) and sMTBRT (r= 0.578, p= 0.009); but low with 5xSTS (r= -0.418, p= 0.084), ST (r= 0,420, p= 0.082), COPtotex (r= - 0.408, p= 0.093) and FRT (r= 0.424, p=0.08). Conclusions – Ten UGP research studies have provided pilot data exploring the reliability and validity of the MTBRT on a healthy population aged 20-59 years old. Results indicate that the measure is reliable in it standing and sitting forms. They show a moderate correlation with TUG, 4SST and sMTBRT, presently used with the older adult population and containing similar physical challenges as the MTBRT. These could now be tested with an older age population to test the MTBRT’s validity with that population.