Effects of hippotherapy on body functions, activities and participation in children with cerebral palsy based on ICF-CY assessments.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of hippotherapy on body functions, activities, and participation in children with CP of various functional levels by using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health-Children and Youth (ICF-CY) checklist. METHODS: Fourteen children with cerebral palsy (CP) (3-8 years of age) were recruited for a 36-week study composed of baseline, intervention, and withdrawal phases (12 weeks for each phase, ABA design). Hippotherapy was implemented for 30 min once weekly for 12 consecutive weeks during the intervention phase. Body Functions (b) and Activities and Participation (d) components of the ICF-CY checklist were used as outcome measures at the initial interview and at the end of each phase. RESULTS: Over the 12 weeks of hippotherapy, significant improvements in ICF-CY qualifiers were found in neuromusculoskeletal and movement-related functions (b7), mobility (d4) and major life areas (d8) and, in particular, mobility of joint functions (b710), muscle tone functions (b735), involuntary movement reaction functions (b755), involuntary movement functions (b765), and play (d811) (all p < 0.05) when compared with baseline. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated the beneficial effects of hippotherapy on body functions, activities, and participation in children with CP. Implications for Rehabilitation ICF-CY provides a comprehensive overview of functioning and disability and constitutes a universal language for identifying the benefits of hippotherapy in areas of functioning and disability in children with CP. In children with CP, hippotherapy encourages a more complementary approach that extends beyond their impairments and limitations in body functions, activities, and participation. The effect of hippotherapy was distinct from GMFCS levels and the majority of improvements were present in children with GMFCS levels I-III.

[Pediatric nurses: cognition of young child development and attitudes and behaviors toward developmental care].

BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of early detection and intervention is emphasized in child development. The knowledge and attitudes of pediatric nurses related to child development is a factor critical to identifying and helping disabled children. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore general pediatric nurse knowledge of young child development and attitudes and behavior toward child developmental care. METHODS: Researchers collected data for this descriptive study using a structured questionnaire and recruited a sample of 112 pediatric nurses from hospitals in Central Taiwan. Data was analyzed by Mean, Pearson correlation, ANOVA, and Logistic regression. RESULTS: The study revealed pediatric nurses have a good level of knowledge related to children development. Although most participants held positive attitudes toward early intervention and child developmental care, their related behaviors were inadequately reported. Predictive factors of child developmental care behavior in nurses included attending related courses and number of children that has. CONCLUSION: Child development-related programs are an important factor affecting nurse child developmental care behavior. The authors recommend establishing developmental care programs and encouraging nurse participation. Early intervention concepts and models should be introduced in nursing and continued education programs.

Concurrent validity of Preschooler Gross Motor Quality Scale with Test of Gross Motor Development-2.

Preschooler Gross Motor Quality Scale (PGMQ) was recently developed to evaluate motor skill quality of preschoolers. The purpose of this study was to establish the concurrent validity of PGMQ using Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2) as the gold standard. One hundred and thirty five preschool children aged from three to six years were recruited from three kindergartens in central Taiwan. Two independent evaluators who were unaware of each other's results evaluated all the children separately in their kindergartens using standardized setting and procedures. Concurrent validity was examined using correlation analysis with Pearson-Production Moment correlation coefficient. The results show that the total scores (r = .86, p < .001) and subscale total scores (r = .82 for locomotion, r = .76 for object manipulation, p < .001) of the two tests correlated well. Analysis of similar items in the locomotion subscale found significant but weak correlations in the running, jumping and galloping items of the two tests (r = .23-.25, p < .001). There were moderate to high correlations in hopping, sliding and leaping between the two tests (r = .52-.70, p < .001). Low to moderate correlations (r = .37-.54, p < .001) were found between the similar items in the object manipulation subscale of PGMQ and TGMD-2. Total scores of TGMD-2 also showed a high relation between the sum of the locomotion and object manipulation scores of PGMQ (r = .83, p < .001). The total scores of similar items in the locomotion subscale of PGMQ and TGMD-2 showed a similar high relation (r = .79, p < .001) likewise in the object manipulation subscale (r = .75, p < .001) The PGMQ proved to have adequate concurrent validity with TGMD-2.

Development and initial validation of the Preschooler Gross Motor Quality Scale.

Motor skills have great impact on children in adapting to an environment and developing interpersonal interaction, cognition, and social behavior. Understanding what children can do and how they perform it is essential. Most motor tests seldom contain quality evaluation in the items or criteria. The purpose of this study was to develop and construct validity of the Preschooler Gross Motor Quality Scale (PGMQ) that included 17 items in three subscales to evaluate the quality of fundamental motor skills for the preschooler. The study designed PGMQ items and subscales according to well-described procedures, and recruited 174 children, aged 3-6 (89 boys and 85 girls) from 17 kindergartens. Two independent evaluators who were unaware of each other's results evaluated all the children separately in their kindergartens using PGMQ standardized setting and procedures and Gross Motor Scales of Peabody Developmental Motor Scales II (PDMS-II). Results of this study found significant differences between different ages and genders (Wilks'Λ=0.221, p<.001 and Wilks'Λ=0.690, p<.001 respectively). Total scores and raw scores in three subscales of PGMQ increased as age increased. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed three factors, including locomotion, manipulative ability and balance to explain 51.06% of the variance. The correlations between PGMQ and PDMS-II subscales were moderate to high (r=0.544-0.868, p<.01). The results showed satisfactory validity of PGMQ. PGMQ is useful to evaluate the development and quality of fundamental motor skills for the preschoolers.