Inte-rater and Test-retest Reliabilities of Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function

Abstract

Abstract Aim and Background : Upper extremity functional problems are the most common disorder which follow cerebral palsy arise. children have difficulty due to neuromuscular problems such as cerebral palsy, this children have less opportunity to receive information from environment and to understand the impact their function on environment and thus their experience decreases in activities. Hand function is the necessities of daily life in all people especially cerebral palsy. Due to amount of hand function disabilities and its importance in cerebral palsy chidren, we decided to examine the reliability of Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function test in cerebral palsy children. Methods & Materials : study is non-experimental and descriptive analysis. In this study, 33 children with diplegia cerebral palsy from 8-12 years old were selected from special school of Tehran through non-probability sampling and from both sexes. In this study, hand function was assessed with jebsen-taylor test by the simultaneous presence of two expert ( inter-rater reliability). Then a week after initial assessment, one experimenter did a re-assessment( intra-rater reliability). This reliability was assessed by Using the intraclass correlation coefficients(ICC) Results: The results of this study was showed high correlation in inter-rater (P=0/001 و ICC=0/998) and intra-rater reliability (P=0/001 و ICC=0/95). Conclusion: the results showed that inter-rater and intra-rater reliability was high in diplegia cerebral palsy. So this test is recommended as a reliable clinical tool to assess the hand function of these children. Key words: intra-rater reliability, inter-rater reliability, cerebral palsy, jebsen-taylor test