Reliability of the Melbourne Assessment of Unilateral Upper Limb Function

Abstract

This study examines the reliability of the Melbourne Assessment of Unilateral Upper Limb Function: a quantitative test of quality of movement in children with neurological impairment. The assessment was administered to 20 children aged from 5 to 16 years (mean age 9 years 10 months, SD 2 years 10 months) who had various types and degrees of cerebral palsy (CP). The performances of the 20 children during assessment were videotaped for subsequent scoring by 15 occupational therapists. Scores were analyzed for internal consistency of test items, inter- and intrarater reliability of scorings of the same videotapes, and test-retest reliability using repeat videotaping. Results revealed very high internal consistency of test items (alpha=0.96), moderate to high agreement both within and between raters for all test items (intraclass correlations of at least 0.7) apart from item 16 (hand to mouth and down), and high interrater reliability (0.95) and intrarater reliability (0.97) for total test scores. Test-retest results revealed moderate to high intrarater reliability for item totals (mean of 0.83 and 0.79) for each rater and high reliability for test totals (0.98 and 0.97). These findings indicate that the Melbourne Assessment of Unilateral Upper Limb Function is a reliable tool for measuring the quality of unilateral upper-limb movement in children with CP.

Relation between neuroradiological findings and upper limb function in hemiplegic cerebral palsy

“…All images were independently reviewed by a neuropaediatrician, the findings were then compared with the radiology report and discussed in case of inconsistency. 16 and valid. 17 The Classification of House 18 was used to evaluate functional use of the hemiplegic upper limb during activities.…”

Upper limb motion analysis in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy: Proximal kinematic changes after distal botulinum toxin or surgical treatments

“…Current clinical methods of upper limb evaluation are made in terms of function, motor control, sensory impairments, dexterity, tone, degree of fixed versus dynamic deformity, and passive and active range of motion (ROM). In the higher functioning child, the quality of upper limb movement during several functional tasks is quantified using available clinical scales [1][2][3][4]. In order to better understand upper limb kinematic anomalies, several upper limb kinematic protocols have been developed and applied to small groups of children [5][6][7][8].…”

Effect of parent‐delivered action observation therapy on upper limb function in unilateral cerebral palsy: a randomized controlled trial

“…During sessions, both groups watched three to four video clips (which for the intervention group showed motor tasks), each lasting three minutes, and each followed by 2 minutes of therapistguided action execution. Improvement in the Melbourne Assessment of Unilateral Upper Limb Function (MUUL) 10 occurred in the intervention group only. However, no follow-up data beyond the immediate post-treatment period were provided.…”