Interrater reliability of the Personal Care Participation Assessment and Resource Tool (PC-PART) in a rehabilitation setting

Background:  The Personal Care Participation Assessment and Resource Tool (PC-PART), formerly the Handicap Assessment and Resource Tool (HART), assesses the domains of clothing, hygiene, nutrition, mobility, safety, residence and supports.
Aim:  To examine the interrater reliability of the PC-PART in a rehabilitation setting.
Methods:  Assessments made by the researcher were compared to the interdisciplinary rehabilitation team. The research and standard assessments occurred within three working days. Raters were blind to each other's scores. Sample participants were a consecutive case-series of rehabilitation clients with varied diagnoses, activity limitations and participation restrictions. Of 66 consecutive patients seen during the a priori determined enrolment period, 25 were included in the study (nine males and 16 females, aged 44–85 years). The remaining 41 patients did not meet the inclusion criteria.
Conclusion:  The PC-PART has good interrater reliability. Clinicians, administrators and researchers can be reassured about this aspect of the validity of the tool.