Inter-rater agreement of the Arabic Gross Motor Classification System Expanded & Revised in children with cerebral palsy in Jordan

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the agreement among parents-report, research physiotherapists-report, and clinical physiotherapists-report using the Arabic-Gross Motor Classification System Expanded & Revised (GMFCS E&R) in classifying Jordanian children with cerebral palsy (CP). Methods: One-hundred and sixteen child with CP [mean age 4 years 7 months (SD = 4 years 5 months)] participated in the study. Parents were asked to classify their children using the Arabic-GMFCS family report questionnaires. Clinical and research physiotherapists were asked to classify children using the Arabic-GMFCS E&R. Agreement between respondents was determined using Cohen’s linear weighted kappa statistic. Results: An excellent level of agreement was reported between research physiotherapists and clinical physiotherapists, substantial level of agreement between parents and research physiotherapists and moderate agreement between parents and clinical physiotherapists. Conclusions: The Arabic-GMFCS E&R is a reliable classification system that can be administrated by health care providers and parents of children with CP in Jordan to help plan services for children.Implications for RehabilitationThe Arabic GMFCS E&R is a reliable and user friendly system that can be administrated by health care providers and parents of children with CP in Jordan to guide services planning.Classifying the children with CP should be performed by the team members (including the family and the children when they are transitioning from childhood to adulthood) independently first, then discussed among and consensus can be reached.The Arabic GMFCS E& R is a reliable classification system that can be used in Jordanian health care system despite the fact that therapists who practice in these settings were not familiar with this classification.