Lj. Duran et Ag. Fisher, MALE AND FEMALE PERFORMANCE ON THE ASSESSMENT OF MOTOR AND PROCESS SKILLS, Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 77(10), 1996, pp. 1019-1024
Objective: To examine the validity of the assertion that men and women
do not differ significantly on the Assessment of Motor and Process Sk
ills (AMPS), a functional assessment tool used to evaluate the interac
tion between component motor and process skills and IADL (instrumental
or domestic activities of daily living) performance capacity. Design:
Descriptive comparison. Using many-faceted Rasch analysis, the AMPS m
otor and process scales were examined for differential item response b
etween gender subgroups. Mean motor and process ability measures of ag
e-matched groups of male and female subjects were also compared. Parti
cipants: A convenience sample of more than 3,500 men and women from th
e standardization sample for the pilot version of the AMPS computer-sc
oring software. The subjects had a variety of physical disabilities or
psychiatric diagnoses. Main Outcome Measures: Hypotheses were as foll
ows: (1) no differential item response would be found on the motor or
process scales; (2) if differential item response was found, it would
not have an impact on the final estimation of client ability; (3) men
and women would not differ in mean AMPS motor or process ability. Resu
lts: Of the 36 AMPS items, only one (Lifts) differed between men and w
omen. This differential item response did not disrupt the final estima
tion of client ability. Men and women did not differ in mean motor abi
lity. Women on the whole were more able than men in mean process abili
ty. Conclusions: The AMPS is valid for use across Sender subgroups. Me
n and women do not differ in AMPS motor ability, but overall, women ar
e slightly more able than men in AMPS process ability. (C) 1996 by the
American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy
of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation