Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the 47-item Mobility Questionnaire in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a developmental-neurological disorder that is common in children. As children with CP have several problems and limitations regarding locomotion and mobility, accessing an assessment tool for measuring mobility is crucial. Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the 47-item mobility questionnaire in Iranian children with cerebral palsy between 6 and 12 years of age in Tehran, Iran September 2019. Methods: In this psychometric study, 202 participants (84 girls and 118 boys, with a mean age of 95.92 months ± 23.73), 15 parents, and nine occupational therapists participated. A multistage sampling method was used. Content, construct, convergent, and face validity were estimated. Internal validity and test-retest reliability were studied, too. The convergent validity of MobQ was studied according to the gross motor functions classification scale (GMFCS). Results: The results showed that all items of the 47-item mobility questionnaire had a content validity higher than the minimum acceptable value (0.78 for CVR and 0.79 for CVI). Further, based on the opinions of 9 experts and 15 persons completing the questionnaire, an understandable and unambiguous questionnaire was reported regarding face validity. The evaluation of the intragroup correlation coefficient’s reliability in this study also showed that ICC was 0.998 and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient value was 0.996. A Spearman correlation coefficient of 0.937 was obtained to assess the convergent validity of the Persian version of the "Mobility Questionnaire" and the Gross Motor Skills Classification Scale. Conclusions: The results of this study, therefore, showed that the Persian version of the 47-item mobility questionnaire had good psychometric characteristics for children with CP between 6 and 12 years of age. Therefore, this questionnaire can be suitable for measuring children’s mobility in research and clinical studies.