Trinity Amputation and Prosthesis Experiences Scales

Introduction

Developed by the Department of Psychology Trinity College Dublin, the Trinity Amputation and Prosthesis Experience Scales (TAPES) is a self-administered questionnaire that comprises psychosocial adjustment, activity restriction, and prosthetic satisfaction domains, each with 3 subscales. With further exploration of residual pain, phantom limb pain and other medical problems.Thereby incorporating both the physical and psychosocial aspects of adjustment.

Objective

It aims to enable an examination of the psychosocial processes involved in adjusting to an artificial limb, the specific demands of wearing a prosthesis, and the potential sources of maladjustment. From a research perspective, the TAPES can facilitate the exploration of the relationships between different variables and the identification of those factors, which promote successful rehabilitation and adjustment to wearing a lower-limb prosthesis.

Intended Population

Lower limb amputation patients

Method

TAPES consists of 9 subscales. There are 3 psychosocial subscales: general adjustment , social adjustment, and adjustment to limitation. Each of these subscales contains 5 items, which are measured along a 5-point rating scale (strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, strongly agree). Scores range from 5 to 25, with higher scores indicating greater levels of adjustment.

The TAPES also contain 3 activity restriction subscales: functional activity restriction , social activity restriction , and athletic activity restriction . Each of these activity restriction subscales contains 4 items, which are measured along a 3-point scale (not at all limited, limited a little, limited a lot). Scores range from 3 to 12, with higher scores indicating greater activity restriction.

There are 3 additional subscales that assess satisfaction with the prosthesis, measured along a 5-point scale (very dissatisfied, dissatisfied, neither dissatisfied nor satisfied, satisfied, very satisfied). The functional satisfaction subscale contains 5 items, with a potential score range from 5 to 25. There are 5 items in the aesthetic satisfaction subscale (eg, color), with a potential score range from 4 to 20. Because weight satisfaction contains only 1 item, scores in this subscale range from 1 to 5. Higher scores in each of the satisfaction subscales indicate greater satisfaction with the prosthesis.

The TAPES also look at the experience of phantom limb pain, residual limb pain, and other medical problems not related to the amputation. Each of the aforementioned is subdivided into questions relating to (1) the type of pain experienced, (2) how often it is experienced, (3) how long each episode lasts, (4) how the level of pain can be described, and (5) the extent to which it interferes with daily life. This section of the TAPES also incorporate 2 items requesting respondents to rate their general health and physical capabilities measured, along a 5-point scale (very poor, 1; very good, 5).

Evidence

The ability of the TAPES to predict a significant amount of variance for each of the 4 domains of QOL identified by the WHOQOL highlights the potential usefulness of the TAPES as a disorder-specific index of Quality of Life (QOL) for amputees. The subscales of TAPES displayed high internal reliability, and preliminary evidence indicating various forms of validity.