Vietnamese Version of the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (vPEDI): A Rasch Model Application

Area of Science:

• Pediatric rehabilitation
• Psychometrics
• Disability assessment

Background:

• The Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) is a widely used tool for assessing functional abilities in children.
• Validating the Vietnamese version (vPEDI) is crucial for its effective use in Vietnam.
• Rasch analysis is a robust statistical method for evaluating the psychometric properties of measurement tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Vietnamese Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (vPEDI) using Rasch analysis.
• To confirm the construct validity, internal consistency, and precision of the vPEDI, specifically its Functional Skills Scale (FSS) and Caregiver Assistance Scale (CAS) subscales.
• To generate an ability map for visualizing item hierarchy within the vPEDI.

Main Methods:

• The study involved 403 typically developing Vietnamese children aged 0.5 to 7.5 years.
• The Andrich Rating Scale model (RSM) within WINSTEPS software was employed for Rasch analysis.
• Keyform ability maps were generated to illustrate item-level functioning.

Main Results:

• The vPEDI demonstrated strong item-level psychometric properties for both FSS and CAS subscales under RSM.
• High percentages of items (95-98.5% for FSS, 87.5-100% for CAS) fit the Rasch model across three domains.
• Ability maps clearly depicted the hierarchy of self-care skills in the FSS.

Conclusions:

• The vPEDI is a valid, reliable, and precise instrument for measuring functional capacity and performance in typically developing Vietnamese children.
• The analysis identified only a few misfitting items, indicating good overall model fit.
• The vPEDI is suitable for use in clinical and research settings in Vietnam.