Mothers' experiences with the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI)

Parents of a child with a disability are often asked about their child's functioning in daily activities. One way to gather this information is through parent-report functional questionnaires such as the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI). The purpose of this study was to explore parental experiences associated with completion of the PEDI before and after a functional therapy intervention. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 mothers of children with cerebral palsy (CP) or developmental delay (DD) who had completed the PEDI within a larger study. A content analysis approach was used to code and organize the data into five themes. PEDI completion was associated with increased parental awareness of developmental patterns, and greater insight into levels of assistance they give to their child. Parents described various challenges and concerns with the PEDI that have implications for test administration processes. The findings have potential to enable more sensitive and focused PEDI use.