The Kinesthetic and Visual Imagery Questionnaire (KVIQ) for assessing motor imagery in persons with physical disabilities: a reliability and construct validity study.

PURPOSE

To benefit from mental practice training after stroke, one must be able to engage in motor imagery, and thus reliable motor imagery assessment tools tailored to persons with sensorimotor impairments are needed. The aims of this study were to (1) examine the test-retest reliability of the Kinesthetic and Visual Imagery Questionnaire (KVIQ-20) and its short version (the KVIQ-10) in healthy subjects and subjects with stroke, (2) investigate the internal consistency of both KVIQ versions, and (3) explore the factorial structure of the two KVIQ versions.

METHODS

The KVIQ assesses on a five-point ordinal scale the clarity of the image (visual: V subscale) and the intensity of the sensations (kinesthetic: K subscale) that the subjects are able to imagine from the first-person perspective. Nineteen persons who had sustained a stroke (CVA group) and 46 healthy persons (CTL group) including an age-matched (aCTL: n = 19) control group were assessed twice by the same examiner 10 to 14 days apart. The test-retest reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coef- ficients (ICCs). The internal consistency (Cronbach alpha) and the factorial structure of both KVIQ versions were studied in a sample of 131 subjects.

RESULTS

In the CVA group, the ICCs ranged from 0.81 to 0.90, from 0.73 to 0.86 in the aCTL group, and from 0.72 to 0.81 in the CTL group. When imagining movements of the affected and unaffected limbs (upper and lower limbs combined) ICCs in the CVA group ranged, respectively, from 0.71 to.87 and from 0.86 to 0.94. Likewise, when imagining movement of the dominant and nondominant limbs, ICCs in the aCTL group ranged, respectively, from 0.75 to 0.89 and from 0.81 to.92. Cronbach a values were, respectively, 0.94 (V) and 0.92 (K) for the KVIQ-20 and 0.89 (V) and 0.87(K) for the KVIQ-10. The factorial analyses indicated that two factors explained 63.4% and 67.7% of total variance, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Both versions of the KVIQ present similar psychometric properties that support their use in healthy individuals and in persons post-stroke. Because the KVIQ-10 can be administered in half the time, however, it is a good choice when assessing persons with physical disabilities.