Development of a challenge assessment tool for high-functioning children with an acquired brain injury.
OBJECTIVE
To develop a performance-based challenge assessment to evaluate gross motor abilities of high-functioning youth with an acquired brain injury (ABI).


METHODS
Potential items were identified from the literature. A panel of 4 expert physical therapists selected items on the basis of 3 criteria: safety to test, feasibility to administer, and importance to perform. Item reduction was completed using ratings from a physical therapist web survey. The Acquired Brain Injury-Challenge Assessment (ABI-CA) was created and pilot tested with youth with an ABI.


RESULTS
Seventy-eight items were identified and reduced to 47 items following expert panel discussion. Web-survey item reduction by 75 pediatric physical therapists yielded a 24-item ABI-CA that was administered to 6 youth with an ABI, aged 8 to 17 years. The ABI-CA mean score was 50.7/81.0 (SD = 17.4).


CONCLUSIONS
The ABI-CA was feasible to administer and demonstrated gross motor activity challenges beyond the Gross Motor Function Measure. Response option refinement and measure validation are required prior to clinical/research use.
Ibey
Robyn J
RJ
Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Chung
Rochelle
R
Benjamin
Nicole
N
Littlejohn
Shannon
S
Sarginson
Andrea
A
Salbach
Nancy Margaret
NM
Kirkwood
Gail
G
Wright
Virginia
V
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D019988:Children with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices