Article

AIM: To describe the development of the parent-rated Hand-Use-at-Home
questionnaire (HUH) assessing the amount of spontaneous use of the affected hand
in children with unilateral paresis, and to test its internal structure,
unidimensionality, and validity. METHOD: Parents of children with unilateral
cerebral palsy (CP) and professionals participated in the development of the HUH.
To examine internal validity, data of 322 children (158 males,
164 females; mean
age 6y 7mo, standard deviation [SD] 2y 1mo) with unilateral CP (n=131) or
neonatal brachial plexus palsy (NBPP) (n=191) were collected. Rasch analysis was
used to examine discriminative capacity of the 5-category rating scale as well as
unidimensionality and hierarchy of the item set. Additionally, data of 55
children with typical development (24 males, 31 females; 6y 9mo, SD 2y 5mo) were
used to examine construct validity. RESULTS: The 5-category rating scale was
disordered in all items and was collapsed to obtain the best discriminating sum
score. Ten misfitting or redundant items were removed. Eighteen hierarchically
ordered bimanual items fitted the unidimensional model within acceptable range.
The HUH significantly discriminated between the three groups (children with
typical development, NBPP, unilateral CP; H(2) =118.985, p<0.001), supporting its
construct validity. INTERPRETATION: The HUH is a valid instrument to assess the
amount of spontaneous use of the affected hand in children with unilateral
upper-limb paresis.
CI - (c) 2017 Mac Keith Press.

Langue : ANGLAIS