Abstract
Purpose
To develop and cross-culturally validate the Ukrainian version of the ABILHAND-Kids questionnaire by testing its psychometric properties in a sample of Ukrainian children with cerebral palsy.
Methods
The ABILHAND-Kids questionnaire was translated into Ukrainian, cross-culturally adapted, and administered to 113 parents of children with cerebral palsy. The psychometric properties of the Ukrainian version and its cross-cultural validation were investigated through the Rasch rating scale model.
Results
One major misfit has been found for the item “Rolling up a sleeve of a sweater” that further was removed. The item “Putting on a backpack/schoolbag” was split into gender-specific items, separately for girls and for boys, as it was systematically easier for Ukrainian girls. All remaining items contributed to the definition of a unidimensional measure of manual ability. The internal consistency reliability of the scale was high (R = 0.95). No significant floor (4%) and ceiling effects (5%) were observed. Three major differential item functioning items were found across Belgium and Ukraine, highlighting the need to use the Ukrainian calibration of ABILHAND-Kids in Ukraine.
Conclusion
The Ukrainian ABILHAND-Kids questionnaire has good psychometric properties for assessing manual ability in Ukrainian children with cerebral palsy, holding potential to be implemented in clinical practice nationwide.
Cerebral palsy impairs manual ability leading to decreased quality of life and participation.
Professionals need valid and reliable tools to detect small changes of manual ability during rehabilitation.
Metric properties and availability of the Ukrainian version of the ABILHAND-Kids questionnaire make it a useful tool in the assessment of children with cerebral palsy.
Implications for rehabilitation
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.