Analyze Dysphagia Research with the PEDro Scale

By Karen Sheffler, MS, CCC-SLP, BCS-S of SwallowStudy.com

We are all consumers of research. We also need to be good judges of the research design when considering a treatment plan for a patient. The PEDro Scale (Physiotherapy Evidence Database Scale) facilitates this analysis of research. It is an 11-point scale, and is best used for analyzing Randomized Control Trials (RCT) and Controlled Clinical Trials (CCT).

The PEDro Scale judges:

1) External validity: is this research applicable for my patient population? Did they state their eligibility criteria? (question 1)

2) Internal validity of the randomization: subjects randomly allocated to groups, blinding all subjects, blinding all evaluators, etc. (questions 2-9)

3) Is there enough statistical information to make the results interpretable? (questions 10-11)

The PEDro Scale warns that it does not measure the validity of a researcher’s conclusions or whether or not it is clinically useful.

CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR A PDF: PEDro Scale