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Assessment of Sitting in Children with Cerebral Palsy from Videofilm
Ulla Myhr1, Lennart von Wendt2, Karl W Sandberg3
1a Lecturer at Bordon College of Health and Caring Sciences, Boden, and doctoral student, Department of Handicap Research, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Insights
The Sitting Assessments Scale (SAS) shows excellent reliability for assessing functional sitting in children with cerebral palsy (CP). The Counting of Pathologic Movements (CPM) technique also demonstrated good reliability, though user experience is a factor.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Rehabilitation Medicine
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Children with cerebral palsy (CP) often experience challenges with functional sitting.
- Accurate and reliable assessment tools are crucial for effective physiotherapy interventions.
- Existing measures may require further validation for clinical use.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the interrater reliability of two measures for assessing functional sitting in children with CP.
- To compare the reliability of the Counting of Pathologic Movements (CPM) and the Sitting Assessments Scale (SAS).
- To determine the suitability of these measures for clinical physiotherapy practice.
Main Methods:
- Two groups of physiotherapy students assessed videofilms of 12 children with CP (ages 2-16 years).
- Interrater reliability was tested for the CPM technique and the SAS measure.
- Student assessments were compared against results from experienced physiotherapists.
Main Results:
- The SAS demonstrated excellent interrater reliability (p<0.001).
- The CPM technique showed good interrater reliability.
- User experience appeared to influence the reliability of the CPM measure.
Conclusions:
- The SAS is a highly reliable tool for evaluating functional sitting in pediatric CP.
- While CPM shows good reliability, its performance may depend on clinician experience.
- SAS is suggested to be superior to CPM for assessing postural control and functional performance in children with CP.
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of two dependent measures, (1) counting of pathologic movements (CPM) and (2) the Sitting Assessments Scale (SAS). The measures were intended for use in clinical physiotherapy practice, to provide both quantifiable and qualitative information from videofilm concerning functional sitting in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Two separate groups of final term physiotherapy students (three students in each group) tested one technique each for interrater reliability. The SAS-measure also was tested for interrater reliability. Videofilm of twelve children with CP ranging in age from 2 to 16 years were assessed. The students' results were compared to earlier results by experiences physiotherapist. The results demonstrated excellent interrater reliability for SAS (p<0.001) and good interrater reliability for the CPM technique. The degree of user experience seems to play a role in the use of the CPM measure. Considering evaluation of postural control and functional performance over all, SAS appears to be superior to CPM.