Measuring participation in children with disabilities using the Assessment of Life Habits

Abstract

The objectives of this study were: (1) to examine the psychometric properties of the Assessment of Life Habits (LIFE‐H) for children; and (2) to draw a profile of the level of participation among children of 5 to 13 years of age with various impairments. The research team adapted the adult version of the LIFE‐H in order to render it more appropriate for the daily life experiences of children. Content validity was verified by an expert panel of 29 people, made up of parents, paediatric clinicians, and researchers. Reliability and construct validity of the LIFE‐H for children (interview‐administered form) was tested during an experiment that comprised three sessions of interviews with a group of 94 parents of children with disabilities (36 males, 58 females; mean age 8y 10mo [SD 2y 6 mo]; diagnostic groups: cerebral palsy, myelomeningocoele, sensory‐motor neuropathy, traumatic brain injury, and developmental delay). Overall, the LIFE‐H showed high intrarater reliability with intraclass correlation coefficient values of 0.78 or higher for 10 out of 11 categories. The correlations between the LIFE‐H and the tools used in pediatric rehabilitation varied, and categories with similar constructs generally led to higher correlations. The psychometric properties of the LIFE‐H are appropriate and its content allows a complete description of participation among children with disabilities.

Development and initial validation of the Children Participation Questionnaire (CPQ)

“…A literature search [2,10,19,20] for the assessment tools designed to measure child participation reveals a paucity of tools appropriate to capture the full essence of the construct of participation. Most of these tools, for example the School Function Assessment (SFA) [21], Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) [22] and the Assessment of Life Habits (LIFE-H) [23] are originally designed, as mentioned previously, for school-aged children with severe disabilities. Little is known about participation patterns of younger children with mild to moderate developmental disabilities, although these children make up the majority of referrals to developmental paediatrics clinics [24].…”

“…In addition participation should be measured by objective dimensions, such as diversity (what one does), intensity (how often one does it), and independence (how much assistance one needs), alongside with subjective dimensions such as how much enjoyment and satisfaction one finds [2,8]. In constructing participation evaluation methods for young children, gathering information through their parents is recommended in the literature [23,28]. Parents' reports are considered to be a sensitive, reliable and valid source of information [29,30].…”

Factors associated with the participation of children with complex communication needs

“…The sample comprised 32% of children with communication difficulties, 16% of whom were classified as children with communication difficulty but being able to use speech; 12% as using non-speech for formal communication, and 15% as having non-formal communication only. Participation was measured using the Life-H instrument (Noreau et al, 2007) which assesses the degree of difficulty an individual experiences in engaging in 11 activity domains…”

Measurement of activities and participation for children with cerebral palsy: A systematic review

“…The characteristics of the measures (aim of the assessment, including the description of its application and contents, target population, and the proper age, as well as whether the measure assesses activities (A) and/or participation (P) (by ICF-CY)), utility (format, administration (by who), time that the assessment takes) and the possible open accessibility of the measure. [44,45] 00038-p.5 disorders [62] observer, who is [62][63][64][65][66][67][68] 3-18y. [63] acknowledged by 7-18y.…”