Cross-sectional study develops inventory to measure psychosocial concerns about non-preferred hand useWhy are we so worried about using our other hand? A new tool measures the fear

Objective: To develop the first inventory to measure psychosocial concerns about use of the non-preferred hand, toward the long-term goal of identifying the casual factors of left-right hand choices ("hand usage"). Design: Cross-sectional Setting: Online question battery Participants: 181 healthy adults Interventions; Not applicable Main Outcome Measures: Self-reported concerns about emotional and physical consequences of using the non-preferred hand. Results: Emotional and physical consequences reflected internally consistent categories (Cronbach's > 0.9) that were moderately correlated with each other ({rho} = 0.783 p = 0.002). Concerns were activity-dependent in each category ({rho} < 1x10-100). Reliability analysis and principal components analysis were used to reduce the battery to the 51-item Changed Hand Usage Concerns inventory, which encompasses everyday tasks and concerns about physical and emotional consequences of using the non-preferred hand in those tasks. Conclusions: Concerns about emotional vs. physical consequences of non-preferred hand use reflect coherent and internally consistent categories The Changed Hand Usage Concerns inventory allows assessment of psychosocial concerns about usage of the non-preferred hand for future attempts to manipulate hand usage via rehabilitation in patients with unilateral or asymmetric impairment.