Melbourne Assessment of Unilateral Upper Limb Function: construct validity and correlation with the Pediatric
1School of Occupational Therapy, University of Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. taylortherapy@optusnet.com.au
Insights
The Melbourne Assessment effectively measures upper limb function in children with cerebral palsy (CP). It strongly correlates with functional abilities, showing its value in assessing children with CP.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Rehabilitation Medicine
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Cerebral palsy (CP) significantly impacts upper limb function in children.
- Objective measurement tools are crucial for assessing functional deficits in pediatric CP.
- The Melbourne Assessment of Unilateral Upper Limb Function (Melbourne Assessment) is designed to evaluate upper extremity function.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the construct validity of the Melbourne Assessment.
- To investigate the correlation between the Melbourne Assessment and functional performance in children with CP.
Main Methods:
- Eighteen children (5-14 years) with various CP types were evaluated.
- Participants completed the Melbourne Assessment and the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI).
- Spearman's rho correlation was used to analyze the relationship between the assessments.
Main Results:
- High correlation coefficients were found between the Melbourne Assessment and PEDI's self-care (0.939) and mobility (0.783) domains.
- A strong correlation (0.718) was observed with the PEDI's overall functional skills section.
- These results indicate a significant relationship between objective upper limb assessment and functional performance.
Conclusions:
- The Melbourne Assessment demonstrates excellent construct validity for upper limb functioning in children with CP.
- The tool effectively relates to a child's performance in real-world functional tasks.
- This supports its use in clinical and research settings for children with CP.
Abstract:
The Melbourne Assessment of Unilateral Upper Limb Function (Melbourne Assessment) is an evaluation tool that objectively measures upper-extremity function in children with cerebral palsy (CP). This study investigates how well performance on the Melbourne Assessment relates to the child's actual performance in functional tasks. Eighteen children with CP (5 to 14 years of age; nine males, nine females) were assessed using the Melbourne Assessment and the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI). Five children had spastic quadriplegia, eight had spastic diplegia, two had spastic hemiplegia and diplegia, two had athetosis, and one had hypotonic quadriplegia with mobile ventilator dependence. Children's performances were statistically correlated using Spearman's rho to establish the relation between these tools. Very high correlation coefficients were calculated between the Melbourne Assessment and self-care (0.939) and mobility domains (0.783) of the PEDI and the overall functional skills section of the PEDI (0.718). The Melbourne Assessment demonstrates excellent construct validity for upper limb functioning.
