Author and graduation date: Travis Lee HANSSEN, July, 1998

Committee members: Patricia Patterson (Chair), Denise Wiksten, Gene Lamke

Thesis title: Test-Retest Reliability of the KAT-2000 for Balance Measurement

The purpose of this study was to determine the internal consistency and test-retest stability of the KAT-2000 as a balance measuring device. Eighty (40 males, 40 females) apparently healthy young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 participated in eight trials of each of the four tests offered by the KAT-2000. These tests included right and left leg static, double leg static, and double leg dynamic. Testing was administered on two occasions within a 7-day period, separated by at least one day. Results of one-way repeated measures ANOVAs and post hoc tests using the Tukey HSD procedures revealed various significant differences between the eight trials for the men on Day 1 and Day 2 for all of the tests except the right leg static test. Therefore, Trial 1 was discarded and reliability analyses were conducted on Trials 2-8. Test-retest sessions also demonstrated various significant differences for the men and women with participants demonstrating better balance on Day 2. Reliability on Day 1 ranged from R = .86 to R = .91 with 95 % confidence intervals ranging from R = .75 to .95 for the men and R = .88 to R = .92 with 95 % confidence intervals ranging from R = .88 to .92 for the women. On Day 2 reliability for men ranged from R = .89 to .92 with 95 % confidence intervals ranging from R = .81 to R = .96 and for the women reliability ranged from R = .85 to R = .91 with 95 % confidence intervals ranging from R = .73 to R = .95. Test-retest reliability ranged from R = .76 to R = .84 with 95 % confidence intervals ranging from R =.61 to . 91 for men and R = .62 to R = .77 with 95 % confidence intervals ranging from R = .40 to R = .87 for women. The KAT-2000 appears to be highly reliable for within day testing, and moderately reliable for test-retest stability for this particular sample. Future studies need to be conducted involving injured participants, older individuals, individuals with a variety of activity backgrounds, and individuals with various health conditions in order to determine the reliability of the KAT-2000 with a variety of populations.

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