Ease of Caregiving for Children: Re-Validation of Psychometric Properties of the Measure for Children with Cerebral Palsy up to 11 Years of Age

Abstract

Purpose: To re-validate stability and hierarchal ordering of items, test–retest reliability, and construct validity of the Ease of Caregiving for Children measure for parents of children with cerebral palsy (CP) up to 11 years of age. Methods: Participants were 613 parents of children with CP between 1.5 and 11 years of age. Parents completed Ease of Caregiving for Children and both parents and therapists classified children’s levels of gross motor, manual and communication functions. Results: Rasch analysis indicated acceptable fit of items, stable item calibration, and logical ordering of items by difficulty. Test–retest reliability was good: ICC = 0.69 (95% CI 0.52–0.81). For construct validity, ease of caregiving was higher for parents of children with higher functioning compared to parents of children with lower functioning, p < .001. Conclusions: Ease of Caregiving for Children is a unidimensional, reliable and valid measure of physical caregiving for parents of children with CP 1.5–11 years.