Inter-Rater Reliability of Mini-Bestest in Ambulatory People with Multiple Sclerosis

Background:  Balance impairments are common and complex in people with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS). Current balance measures do not consider many of the components required for functional balance. A novel test, the Mini-BESTest (MBT) may be more clinically useful, as it considers additional balance domains. To the best of the authors’ knowledge no literature has investigated the inter-rater reliability of the MBT, exclusively in ambulatory PwMS.

Objectives: To investigate the inter-rater reliability of MBT in ambulatory PwMS.

Methods: A sample of convenience (n=52) was recruited. All participants were out- patients referred for physiotherapy with a primary diagnosis of MS, medically stable, greater than 18 years of age and able to ambulate independently with/without an aid. Participants’ demographic data was collected prior to completing the MBT with Rater 1 (R1). Rater 2 (R2) then repeated the MBT. Statistical analyses were undertaken using IBM SPSS® Statistics V. 20

Results: The mean MBT score of R1 and R2 were 19. 1 (SD 5.75) and 18.8 (SD 6.01) respectively. The mean difference between raters was 0.27 (SD 1.8; CI -2.5 +2.02; p=.816). The intra class correlation coefficient (ICC) was .976 (CI .92-97). The standard error of the measure (SEM) was 2.56. The minimum detectable change (MDC) of the MBT was calculated to be 7 points.

Conclusions: Despite the high MDC shown in this study, the high ICC values suggest there was a strong agreement between two raters for the MBT in an ambulatory PwMS.