Article

Determining the psychometric properties such as reliability and validity
of Functional Independence Measure for Children (WeeFIM) instrument would help
health professionals to understand the comprehensive assessment of children with
spastic cerebral palsy (CP). The purpose of this study was to investigate the
factor structure of the WeeFIM in children with spastic CP. METHODS: Two hundred
seven children (138 boys, 69 girls) with spastic CP were recruited in this
cross-sectional study; their mean age (SD) was 9.10 (2.7) years. Data were
collected through a questionnaire that included the WeeFIM. Of the 207 children,
57 (27%), 105 (51%), and 45 (22%) were quadriplegic, diplegic, and hemiplegic,
respectively. In each of these groups, 49 (24%), 32 (15%), 31 (15%), 19 (9%), and
76 (37%) children were classified as Gross Motor Function Classification System
(GMFCS) levels I-V, respectively. The factor structure of the WeeFIM was analyzed
by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) by
using AMOS 20.0. The reliability of WeeFIM was assessed by calculating the
internal consistency of Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: The internal consistency of
Cronbach's alpha was 0.98. The 1- and 2-factor models did not demonstrate
adequate fit indices according to CFA. However, the 3-factor structure (i.e.
self-care, motor, and cognitive factors) was supported by EFA and CFA, which
explained 87.12% of the variance. The self-care factor included 6 items (eating,
grooming, dressing upper, dressing lower, bathing, and toileting), the motor
factor included 7 items (bladder and bowel management, bed/chair/wheelchair,
toilet, tub/shower, walk/wheelchair, and stairs), and the cognitive factor
included the same 5 items as the original cognitive domain. CONCLUSION: In
children with spastic CP, 3 factors of the WeeFIM were determined by factor
analysis. Therefore, self-care, motor, and cognitive domains should be treated as
separate scales in children with spastic CP.

Langue : ANGLAIS