Structural Validity of an ICF-Based Measure of Activity and Participation for Children in Taiwan's Disability Eligibility Determination System

Ai-Wen Hwang; Chia-Feng Yen; Hua-Fang Liao; Wen-Chou Chi; Tsan-Hon Liou; Ben-Sheng Chang; Ting-Fang Wu; Lin-Ju Kang; Shu-Jen Lu; Rune J Simeonsson; Tze-Hsuan Wang; Gary Bedell

doi:10.3390/ijerph17176134

Structural Validity of an ICF-Based Measure of Activity and Participation for Children in Taiwan's Disability Eligibility Determination System

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Aug 24;17(17):6134. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17176134.

Authors

Ai-Wen Hwang^{1

2}, Chia-Feng Yen³, Hua-Fang Liao⁴, Wen-Chou Chi⁵, Tsan-Hon Liou^{6

7}, Ben-Sheng Chang⁸, Ting-Fang Wu⁹, Lin-Ju Kang^{1

2}, Shu-Jen Lu¹⁰, Rune J Simeonsson¹¹, Tze-Hsuan Wang¹², Gary Bedell¹³

Affiliations

¹ Graduate Institute of Early Intervention, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 33302, Taiwan.
² Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou 33305, Taiwan.
³ Department of Public Health, Tzu Chi University, Hualien 97004, Taiwan.
⁴ School and Graduate Institute of Physical Therapy, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10055, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung 40201, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
⁷ Graduate Institute of Injury Prevention and Control, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
⁸ Department of Psychology, Soochow University, Taipei 11102, Taiwan.
⁹ Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Counseling, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei 10610, Taiwan.
¹⁰ College of Medicine, School of Occupational Therapy, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10055, Taiwan.
¹¹ School Psychology and Early Childhood Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3500, USA.
¹² Graduate Institute of Physical Education, National Taiwan Sport University, Taoyuan 33301, Taiwan.
¹³ Department of Occupational Therapy, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155-5539, USA.

Abstract

To assess activity and participation for children in Taiwan's Disability Eligibility Determination System (DEDS), we developed a questionnaire, the Functioning Disability Evaluation Scale (FUNDES-Child), based on the Child and Adolescent Scale of Participation (CASP). The study follows a methodology research design to investigate the construct validity of the frequency and independence dimensions of FUNDES-Child 7.0. Two samples were randomly stratified from the databank of 13,835 children and youth with disabilities aged 6.0-17.9 years to examine structural validity by exploratory factor analysis (EFA, n = 4111, mean age of 11.3 ± 3.5) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA, n = 4823, mean age of 11.4 ± 3.5)). EFA indicated a 4-factor structure for the frequency dimension (51.3% variance explained) and a 2-factor structure for the independence dimension (53.6% variance explained). The CFA indicated that the second-order factor structures of both dimensions were more parsimonious with adequate fit indices (Goodness fit Index, GFI; Normed Fit Index, NFI; Comparative Fit Index, CFI; and Tucker-Lewis Index, TLI ≥ 0.95, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation, RMSEA < 0.06). Results provide evidence that the participation part of FUNDES-Child 7.0 has acceptable structural validity for use in Taiwan's DEDS. Utility of FUNDES-Child 7.0 in rehabilitation, welfare, and educational services needs further study.

Keywords: adolescence; children; disability; measurement; participation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Child
Disability Evaluation*
Disabled Persons*
Eligibility Determination*
Female
Humans
Male
Psychometrics
Reproducibility of Results
Surveys and Questionnaires
Taiwan