1. Interrater Reliability of the Pediatric Neuromuscular Recovery Scale for Spinal Cord Injury
- Author
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Andrea L. Behrman, Laura C Argetsinger, Lisa Clayton, Mary Gregg, Doug Lorenz, Elizabeth Ardolino, Shelley A Trimble, Mary Jane Mulcahey, and MacKenzie T Roberts
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,030506 rehabilitation ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Concordance ,Video Recording ,Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation ,Walking ,Quadriplegia ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,Injury Severity Score ,0302 clinical medicine ,Occupational Therapists ,Physicians ,Content validity ,Humans ,Medicine ,Child ,Spinal cord injury ,Spinal Cord Injuries ,Reliability (statistics) ,Observer Variation ,Paraplegia ,business.industry ,Rehabilitation ,Neuromuscular Diseases ,Recovery of Function ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Physical Therapists ,Inter-rater reliability ,Child, Preschool ,Scale (social sciences) ,Standing Position ,Physical therapy ,Female ,Neurology (clinical) ,Psychomotor Disorders ,0305 other medical science ,business ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Background: In synergy with the mounting scientific evidence for the capacity of recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI) and training, new evidence-based therapies advancing neuromuscular recovery are emerging. There is a parallel need for outcome instruments that specifically address recovery. The Pediatric Neuromuscular Recovery Scale (Pediatric NRS) is one example with established content validity to assess neuromuscular capacity within task performance. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine interrater reliability of the Pediatric NRS to classify motor capacity in children after SCI. Methods: Pediatric physicians (3), occupational therapists (5), and physical therapists (6) received standardized training in scoring the scale, then rated video assessments of 32 children post SCI, 2–12 years of age, 78% non-ambulatory. Interrater reliability was analyzed using Kendall coefficient of concordance for individual Pediatric NRS items and overall score. Results: The interrater reliability coefficient was determined to be near 1 for the overall Pediatric NRS score (ICC = 0.966; 95% CI, 0.89–0.98). Twelve of 16 individual items exhibited high concordance coefficients (Kendall's W ≥ 0.8) and four items demonstrated concordance coefficients, < 0.8 and > 0.69. Interrater reliability was equivalent among groups defined by age and neurological level, but lower among non-ambulatory individuals. Conclusion: Strong interrater reliability was demonstrated by pediatric clinicians who scored children with SCI using the Pediatric NRS.
- Published
- 2019