How is the MHQ scored?

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The MHQ contains six domains:

• overall hand function

• activities of daily living

• work performance

• pain

• aesthetics

• satisfaction

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An overall MHQ score can be obtained by summing the scores for all six scales after reversing the pain scale (pain=100-pain score) and then dividing by six.

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In the pain scale, high scores indicate greater pain, while in the other five scales, high scores denote better hand performance.

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The score for the affected hand is obtained by selecting either the right or the left hand score. If both hands are affected (ex. rheumatoid arthritis patients), the right and left hand scores are averaged to get the score.

The raw scale score for each of the six scales is the sum of the responses of each scale item. The raw score is converted to a score ranging from 0-100. Detailed instructions are provided here. Furthermore, a scoring algorithm in SAS and Excel are also provided when you apply for a license. If you have any questions, please contact us here. 

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Missing values in each scale may affect the validity of the scores. If 50% or more of the items in a scale are missing, then that particular scale cannot be scored. For scales with less than 50% missing, the average of the existing scale items may be imputed for the missing items. For example, the Aesthetics scale has 4 questions.

If only 2 questions are answered and 2 are missing the scale cannot be scored because 50% of the responses are missing. If 3 questions are answered and 1 is missing, the responses for the answered questions are averaged and this average value is entered as the value for the missing response. The scale is then score as usual.

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An overall MHQ score can be obtained by summing the scores for all six scales after reversing the pain scale (pain=100-pain score) and then dividing by six.

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Scoring the MHQ

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To use the SAS mechanism you must arrange your data according to the variable names indicated in the codebook. You may then open the mechanism in the SAS program and replace the file names where indicated.

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To use the Excel mechanism, enter an “x” in the appropriate boxes. The scores are computed at the bottom of the spreadsheet. Please note: The Excel scoring mechanism cannot accommodate missing values!

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MHQ Scoring Algorithm

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*The response categories for some of the questions are reversed and recoded. Please be sure to do this step before calculating raw score.

**Sum of the responses for each hand on each scale.

***For the pain scale, higher scores indicate more pain. For the other five scales, higher scores indicate better hand performance. The scores are normalized to a range of 0 to 100.

To calculate overall MHQ score use the following formula with normalized scores. Be sure to

reverse the pain score:

Overall MHQ Score per hand = [Function + Activities of Daily Living + Work + (100-Pain) + Aesthetics + Satisfaction]/6

The score for the affected hand is obtained by selecting either the right or the left hand score. The “affected” hand score can be compared to the “normal’ hand score. If both hands are affected (ex. rheumatoid arthritis patients), the right and left hand scores are averaged to get the score.

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Missing Values:

Missing values in each scale may affect the validity of the scores. If 50% or more of the items in a scale are missing, then that particular scale cannot be scored. For scales with less than 50% missing, the average of the existing scale items may be imputed for the missing items. For example, the Aesthetics scale has 4 questions, if only 2 questions are answered and 2 are missing the scale cannot be scored because 50% of the responses are missing. If 3 questions are answered and 1 is missing, the responses for the answered questions are averaged and this average value is entered as the value for the missing response. The scale is then scored as usual.

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