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Inter- and Intrarater Reliability of the Infant Motor Profile in 3- to 18-Month-Old Infants
Eva Hecker1, Gillian D Baer, Christina Stark
1UniReha GmbH (Ms Hecker), University Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Department of Physiotherapy (Dr Baer), School of Health Science, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, Scotland; Children's Hospital (Ms Stark), University of Cologne, and HSD Hochschule Döpfer, University of Applied Sciences, Cologne, Germany; Department of Neuropediatrics (Dr Herkenrath), Children's Hospital of Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Department of Pediatrics-Division of Developmental Neurology (Dr Hadders-Algra), University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Insights
The Infant Motor Profile (IMP) shows good reliability for assessing motor skills in infants at risk for developmental delay. However, reliability for the symmetry domain needs improvement for accurate infant motor assessments.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric physical therapy
- Motor development assessment
- Infant clinical evaluation
Background:
- The Infant Motor Profile (IMP) is a tool used to assess motor skills in infants.
- Reliability of assessment tools is crucial for accurate diagnosis and intervention planning.
- Understanding the reliability of the IMP is important for clinicians working with at-risk infants.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the inter- and intrarater reliability of the Infant Motor Profile (IMP) scoring.
- To determine the consistency of IMP scores when used by different assessors and by the same assessor at different times.
Main Methods:
- Twenty infants at risk for motor developmental delay were video-recorded.
- Four assessors, after two days of IMP training, scored the videos twice with a one-month interval.
- Spearman rank correlation coefficients were used to analyze reliability.
Main Results:
- Strong interrater and intrarater reliability were found for total IMP scores and the performance domain.
- Satisfactory reliability was observed for the variation, variability, and fluency domains.
- The weakest agreement was noted in the symmetry domain.
Conclusions:
- The Infant Motor Profile (IMP) demonstrates good intra- and interrater reliability for most domains after brief training.
- The symmetry domain of the IMP requires further attention to improve scoring consistency.
- The findings support the use of the IMP by naive therapists for most motor skill assessments.
Purpose:
To investigate inter- and intrarater reliability scoring the Infant Motor Profile (IMP).
Methods:
A total of 20 infants at risk for motor developmental delay were assessed using the IMP. Six infants were born at term (gestational age: 38-42 weeks), and 14 infants were preterm (gestational age: 24-35 weeks). Videos were analyzed twice with an interval of 1 month by 4 assessors after 2 days of IMP training.
Results:
Spearman rank scores demonstrated strong interrater and intrarater reliability for total IMP scores (inter: r = 0.80-0.96; intra: r = 0.85-0.97) and the domain of performance (r = 0.95-0.99). Reliability for the domains of variation, variability, and fluency was satisfactory (inter: r = 0.15-0.85; intra: r = 0.30-0.92). The weakest agreement was found in the domain of symmetry (inter: r = 0.20-0.69; intra: r = 0.33-0.65).
Conclusion:
Therapists naive to the IMP demonstrate good intra and interrater reliability (after 2 days of training) for most domains with the exception of symmetry.
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