Measures of participation outcomes related to hand use for 2‐ to 12‐year‐old children with disabilities: a systematic review

Abstract

Many interventions have been used to improve children's hand-related impairments or hand skill performance in functional activities so as to promote life participation. There is thus a need to have suitable instruments assessing children's participation in life situations that specifically require hand use in order to support and evaluate such interventions. This systematic review investigated the availability of potential instruments that can be used to assess children's participation specifically in life situations requiring hand use. Clinical utility and evidence for psychometric properties were also sourced. Database searches initially identified measures that were used to evaluate participation of children aged 2-12 years, involved self- or proxy report or interview administration and had generic application for a range of disabilities/diagnoses. These measures were further evaluated to determine if they fulfilled the above inclusion criteria and contained at least 60% of the items involving hand use. Further searches for psychometric evidence were undertaken for the eligible measures. Fourteen measures were identified and nine met the inclusion criteria. However, none of these measures, except for the Children Helping Out: Responsibilities, Expectations, and Supports (CHORES), contained all items related to hand use. Most of the included measures had limited psychometric properties. Only the Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment/Preferences for Activities of Children (CAPE/PAC), the School Function Assessment-Participation section (SFA-P) and the Children Participation Questionnaire (CPQ) revealed sufficient evidence of validity and reliability. The findings suggest a need for adapting existing participation measures or developing new ones that specifically assess participation in life situations requiring hand use to support interventions.

The effect of interventions aimed at improving participation outcomes for children with disabilities: a systematic review

“…For two-group designs, was dropout balanced? (7) Considering the potential within the study design, were appropriate methods for controlling confounding variables and limiting potential biases used? 27 No Yes No Yes Unclear No Guli et al 28 No No No Yes Unclear No Hillier et al 23 Yes Yes No Yes Unclear Yes Sakzewski et al 24 Yes Yes No Yes Unclear Yes Scholtes et al 25 Yes Yes No Yes Unclear No Wuang et al 26 Yes…”

“…Enhancement of participation is often reported as the ultimate health and educational outcome and the primary goal of rehabilitation . Previous systematic literature reviews have examined the properties of available participation measurement tools, reported participation restrictions for people with disabilities, and identified supports and barriers to participation in people with disabilities . However, literature describing evidence‐based approaches to improving participation in people with disabilities is limited.…”

Advancements in measurement and methodology in Occupational Therapy: The contribution of Professor Sylvia Rodger

“…Building on this theoretical work, the team conducted a comparative review identifying suitable instruments that assess children's participation in life situations that specifically require hand use (Chien, Rodger, Copley & McLaren, ). This theoretical work set the foundation for the development of a new assessment of hand‐use in children.…”

Medición de la participación en niños y adolescentes con y sin discapacidad: una revisión sistemática

“…Revisiones sistemáticas previas han identificado escalas aplicables a poblaciones con patologías particulares, como por ejemplo, parálisis cerebral 23 o a grupos particulares de discapacidades 24,25,26 . Sin embargo, no existen revisiones sistemáticas que recomienden las escalas que puedan aplicarse simultáneamente a niños(as) y adolescentes con y sin discapacidad.…”