Development of a novel orofacial motor function assessment scale for children with cerebral palsy.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to develop the orofacial motor function assessment scale (OFMFAS) and appraise its performance in terms of validity and reliability in a cohort of 116 cerebral palsy patients.


METHODS
The scale was developed according to a process derived from the theory of measurement and scale development previously described in the dental literature. The final version of the OFMFAS comprises 13 items that have 30 subitems. Results were statistically analyzed by Bland-Altman for: (1) intrarater consistency; (2) kappa coefficient for inter-rater agreement; and (3) Cronbach alpha for internal consistency reliability.


RESULTS
The majority of OFMFAS items showed a very good agreement between the raters (K>0.75). Cronbach alpha for the 13-item scale was 0.93, indicating excellent internal consistency reliability.


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that the oralfacial motor function assessment scale is the first statistically-based scale for the quantitative assessment of oral-motor skills in cerebral palsy children. It is an easy-to-use, accurate, and valid method of assessment.
Santos
Maria Teresa Botti Rodrigues
MT
Persons With Disabilities Division, Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul, São Paulo, Brazil. drsantosmt@yahoo.com.br
Manzano
Felipe Scalco
FS
Ferreira
Maria Cristina Duarte
MC
Masiero
Danilo
D
D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005152:Facial Muscles / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D009048:Motor Skills; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires