Background: Childhood disabilities determine a range of immediate and long-term economic costs that have important implications for the well-being of the child, the family and the society. The Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) measures capability and performance in children aged between 6 months and 7.5 years. It contains three scales: Functional Skills Scales (FSS), Caregiver Assistance Scale (CAS) and Modifications Scale (MS). The present study evaluated the measurement properties of the Italian version of the PEDI (PEDI-I) in patients with spastic cerebral palsy (CP).
Study design: Reliability study.
Methods: The original PEDI was translated - including a cross-cultural adaptation - into Italian. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were evaluated.
Results: Fifty-eight children with CP were recruited. According to inter-interviewer reproducibility, the FSS domain revealed intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values ranging between 0.94 and 1.00. CAS domain revealed ICC values ranging between 0.94 and 1.00. The SEM values ranged between 3.25 (SDD=8.98) for SF and 5.24 for SC (SDD=14.5). According to intra-interviewer reproducibility, the FSS domain revealed ICC values ranging between 0.99 and 1.00. CAS domain revealed ICC values ranging between 0.92 and 0.99. The SEM values ranged between 3.44 (SDD=9.5) for SF and 3.75 for SC (SDD=10.36). The inter-interviewer and intra-interviewer reproducibility results showed very high ICC values for both FFS and CAS domains. Cronbach's α ranged between 0.94 and 0.99, indicating excellent internal consistency within each domain of the PEDI-I.
Conclusion: The inter-interviewer and intra-interviewer reproducibility results of PEDI-I showed very high ICC values for FFS and CAS domains. Therefore, we recommend its application to evaluate the effect of treatment in children with CP.
Keywords: Cerebral palsy; Italian translation and adaptation; Pediatric Evaluation Disability Inventory; Reliability.