Comparison of the psychometric properties of two balance scales in children with cerebral palsy

Abstract

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to compare the item difficulty degree between the Pediatric Balance Scale and Fullerton Advanced Balance scale for children with cerebral palsy. [Subjects and Methods] Forty children with cerebral palsy (male=17, female=23) voluntarily participated in the study. Item difficulty was expressed in the Rasch analysis using a logit value, with a higher value indicative of increasing item difficulty. [Results] Among the 24 items of the combined Pediatric Balance Scale and Fullerton Advanced Balance scale, the most difficult item was “Walk with head turns”, whereas, the easiest item was “Sitting with back unsupported and feet supported on the floor”. Among the 14 items of the Pediatric Balance Scale, 9 items (item 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, and 12) had negative logit values, whereas for the Fullerton Advanced Balance scale, only 1 item (item 1) had a negative logit value. [Conclusion] The Fullerton Advanced Balance scale is a more appropriate tool to assess balance ability than the Pediatric Balance Scale in in a group of higher functioning children with cerebral palsy.

Effect of additional load on angular parameters during gait and balance in children with hemiparesis – Cross sectional study

“…1) The hip joint also plays a vital role in the gait cycle, but in our study angular parameter of the hip joint was not considered for analysis. 2) Use of a time-based functional dynamic task scale could have elaborated the balance component in detail [8,19]. Future studies can consider additional load in therapy and explore its effect.…”