Interrater reliability of a new handwriting assessment battery for adults.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to develop, pilot, and evaluate the interrater reliability of a new Handwriting Assessment Battery for adults.


DESIGN
Test development included item selection and interrater reliability involving two raters.


METHOD
The test assessed pen control and manipulation, writing speed, and writing legibility. Ten people with brain injury completed the test with two occupational therapists independently rating 10 writing samples. Results were analyzed for reliability using kappa and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC2,1).


RESULTS
Pen control and manipulation subtests showed high to perfect agreement (line drawing subtest, kappa = 1.0; dot subtest, kappa = 0.80). The speed subtest showed perfect agreement (ICC= 1.0). Writing legibility showed high agreement for all five subtests (ICC = 0.71-0.83), although a ceiling effect was evident for two subtests.


CONCLUSION
Although the test showed excellent interrater reliability, further reliability and validity testing are needed before the test is used clinically.