Advancements in Dexterity Measurements: the digital Nine Hole Peg Test

Abstract Digitalization in the healthcare sector is progressing rapidly. In the field of measuring instruments for manual dexterity, digitization has resulted in major limitations in terms of ease of use and usability. This study describes the development of a digital nine-hole peg test (dNHPT) for assessing hand dexterity that can be used just as easily and quickly as the original nine-hole peg test. The extensive validation of the dNHPT includes the investigation of validity, reliability, clinical utility and user-friendliness This paper presents the validation of clinical utility and usability of the dNHPT. The comparison of the original ninehole peg test (NHPT) und the dNHPT show similar clinical utility of the dNHPT and the NHPT (74% of all ratings of dNHPT are equal to or better than the NHPT) and good to excellent System Usability Scale Scores of 78 (CI95: 75;81) and 85 (CI95: 80;89). Several recommendations for further development of the dNHPT were identified. The newly developed dNHPT presented here supports the quality of data collection through automated time measurement and result presentation and shows good usability and clinical utility ratings.