Measuring function in young children with impairments.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the psychometric properties of a new functional assessment tool, the WeeFIM 0-3 instrument, intended to measure function in young children with physical, cognitive, or developmental impairments from birth to 3 years of age. Specific aims were to determine whether differences exist in WeeFIM 0-3 ratings in children with impairments as compared with those without, controlling for age and gender, and to determine the internal consistency, validity, and hierarchical properties of the instrument.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study of 173 children with impairments and 354 without impairments.


RESULTS
Controlling for age, children without impairments had significantly higher mean WeeFIM 0-3 ratings than children with impairments. There were no differences in mean ratings by gender. The instrument displayed high internal consistency, construct, and predictive validity; maintained a hierarchy of item difficulty; and discriminant properties.


CONCLUSIONS
Further reliability studies are needed to determine the instrument sensitivity and ability to detect change over time.
Department of Rehabilitative Medicine, Center for Functional Assessment Research, and Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York, USA. pniewczyk@udsmr.org
Paulette M
PM
Niewczyk
Carl V
CV
Granger
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000503:physiopathology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D019988:Children with Disabilities; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009048:Motor Skills; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results