Reliability Study of the Items of the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) Using Kappa Analysis

Abstract

Purpose: We evaluated the interrater and intrarater reliabilities of the Korean version of the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (K-AIMS). Methods: For the interrater reliability test, six raters participated in the K-AIMS evaluation using video clips of 70 infants (aged between 0 and 18 months). One rater participated in an intrarater reliability test. Among 70 infants, 46 were born preterm and 24 were born full term. A total of 58 AIMS items were evaluated for supine, prone, sitting, and standing positions. A reliability analysis was conducted using ICC and Fleiss’ kappa. Results: The highest Fleiss’ kappa was found for the 4–7 months group for sitting (K = 0.701–1.000) and standing (K = 0.721–1.000), while the lowest K was the 3 months or under group for standing (K = 0.153–1.000). We found higher Fleiss’ kappa statistics when all infants were evaluated without grouping for the three positions (K = 0.727–1.000), except standing (K = 0.192–1.000), for the interrater analysis. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate the good reliability for the Korean version of the AIMS for Korean infants (preterm and full term).