How was the AM-PAC developed?

The AM-PAC was developed at the Boston University Health and Disability Institute under the leadership of Drs. Alan Jette and Stephen Haley. First a comprehensive list of functional items was developed using the International Classification of Functioning and Disability and with input from patients and expert clinicians. These test items were administered to a large sample of patients from different care settings with a wide range of diagnoses. Using Item Response Theory (IRT) the test items were scaled to provide an estimate of a patient's functional ability. The paper short-form version of the AM-PAC was developed from these test items. The computer-based version of the AM-PAC uses Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) to select test items that are most appropriate for an individual patient, which increases measurement precision while minimizing respondent burden.