Reliability and validity of pediatric powered mobility outcome measures

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Pediatric Physical Therapy
• Assistive Technology

Background:

• Reliable and valid outcome measures are crucial for assessing the proficiency of children using powered mobility devices.
• Existing measures may lack sufficient psychometric evidence for this population.
• Powered mobility devices significantly enhance independence and participation for children with physical disabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of the Powered Mobility Program (PMP) and the Israel Ministry of Health Powered Mobility Proficiency Test (PM-PT).
• To assess the inter-rater reliability of the Assessment of Learning Powered Mobility (ALP) tool.
• To determine the convergent validity of these three measures for children with physical disabilities.

Main Methods:

• Thirty children (mean age 10 years 6 months; range 6-18 years) with cerebral palsy and other neuromuscular disorders participated.
• Participants were non-proficient powered wheelchair drivers assessed via the PMP, ALP, and PM-PT.
• Two blinded raters evaluated driving ability from videos using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC2,1) for reliability and Spearman correlation coefficients for validity.

Main Results:

• The PMP demonstrated excellent intra-rater reliability (ICCs 0.97-0.98) and good to excellent inter-rater reliability (ICCs 0.87-0.94).
• The PM-PT showed good to excellent intra-rater (ICCs 0.89-0.96) and inter-rater reliability (ICCs 0.87-0.91).
• The ALP had good inter-rater reliability (ICC 0.83), and all measures exhibited good to excellent convergent validity (rs 0.87-0.96).

Conclusions:

• The PMP, PM-PT, and ALP are reliable and valid tools for assessing powered wheelchair proficiency in children aged 6-18 years.
• These validated measures provide essential empirical evidence previously lacking for this population.
• The shorter PM-PT can be utilized when assessment time is limited, offering a practical alternative to the comprehensive PMP.