Adaptation of the Activity Measure Post-Acute Care (AM-PAC) from English to Mandarin using the dual-panel translation approach

Purpose: The aims of this study were to translate and adapt the Activity Measure Post-Acute Care (AM-PAC) from US English to Mandarin using the dual-panel method, and to assess its psychometric properties in an outpatient rehabilitation setting. Methods: The AM-PAC outpatient short forms were translated using the dual-panel method. The translated AM-PAC was tested in 550 Chinese-speaking rehabilitation outpatients. Floor and ceiling effects were evaluated and internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Spearman correlation was used to assess the concurrent validity of the AM-PAC with the Barthel Index and the Mini-Mental State Examination. Test–retest reliability was determined by administering the AM-PAC twice to 57 participants within a 2–7 day interval. Results: Some ceiling effects (>20%) were observed in the Applied Cognition subscale. All subscales exhibited good internal consistency (α > 0.70). Supportive evidence for concurrent validity was found in strong correlations between Basic Mobility subscale and Barthel Index (r = 0.68), and Daily Activity subscale and Barthel Index (r = 0.70); and moderate correlations between Applied Cognition subscale and Mini-Mental State Examination (r = 0.50). Test–retest reliability for all subscales was high (intraclass correlation coefficient =0.89–0.98). Conclusions: The dual-panel approach was successfully used to translate the AM-PAC from English to Mandarin. Adequate reliability and validity in rehabilitation outpatients in Taiwan were established.Implications for RehabilitationThe dual-panel method is a modern translation technique, which was successfully used to adapt the Activity Measure Post-Acute Care from English to Mandarin.The Mandarin version of Activity Measure Post-Acute Care demonstrates adequate internal consistency, concurrent validity, and test–retest reliability in rehabilitation outpatients.The Activity Measure Post-Acute Care is superior to existing functional measures used to monitor activity performance for rehabilitation patients in Taiwan.