ABSTRACT
Complex physical activity is a prerequisite for the completion of advanced sports skills, while trunk control is a prerequisite for complex physical activity. Cerebral palsy is often characterized by poor trunk control and poor balance response. An accurate measurement for trunk control function of patients is of great guiding significance for clinical treatment. Trunk Control Measurement Scale (TCMS) is applied to children with neuromotor dysfunction aged five years and above. TCMS has high reliability and validity, and high test-retest reliability and inter-rater reliability in evaluating spastic cerebral palsy, and it is a reliable, effective and appropriate measurement tool in evaluating the trunk control ability. It can combine with other functional scales to provide more valuable information for the function of patients with cerebral palsy because of its high correlation with other types of scales.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study was conducted to develop a Korean version of the trunk control measurement scale (TCMS) and examine the reliability and concurrent validity of the K-TCMS in children with cerebral palsy. METHODS: Subjects for the study were 23 children with cerebral palsy (CP)(mean age: 84.70 months) recruited from one CP clinic. For the interrater and test-retest reliabilities, four raters (A, B, C, D) measured the K-TCMS two times using video clips with an interval of two weeks. For the concurrent validity, the Korean version of the gross motor function measure (K-GMFM) was chosen. Inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability of the three K-TCMS subscale (static sitting balance, dynamic sitting balance and dynamic reaching) scores and the total scores were investigated using the intra-correlation coefficient (ICC₃,₁). Spearman's correlation coefficient (r) was calculated to investigate the concurrent validity. RESULTS: The inter-rater reliability of the K-TCMS subscales and total scores were all high (ICC₃,₁=0.968-0.992). For the test-retest reliability, ICC₃,₁=0.827–0.962. The concurrent validity between the K-TCMS's total and three subscale scores and K-GMFM's total score were r=0.600–0.667. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the K-TCMS can be used in clinical and research settings as a standardized tool for CP children. The K-TCMS might be also useful for selecting treatment goals and planning interventions for children with cerebral palsy.