Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of School Function Assessment (SFA) in 6 to 12-Year-Old Children with Physical Disabilities

Abstract

Background: Nowadays, regarding the increasing awareness of health empowerment models in the field of the nature of the activity, the importance of the participation of children with functional disabilities is emphasized. The purpose of this study is to assess the psychometric properties of the Persian version of school function assessment (SFA). Methods: A group of 80 children with physical disability along with their parents, teachers, and occupational therapists participated in this methodological study. Cronbach’s alpha and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were calculated to assess the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of Persian version of SFA, respectively. The statistical analysis was done using SPSS software (version 21). Results: The mean age of children in this study was 9.6 years (SD = 1.1). 40 participants were females and 40 were males. Except for a few items, all items had acceptable content validity index (CVI > 0.7) and content validity ratio (CVR > 0.4). The Cronbach’s alpha score for different parts of SFA was also calculated (0.90 < α < 0.98; P < 0.001). The test-retest reliability of sub-tests of SFA was excellent (0.87 < ICC < 0.98; P < 0.001). Conclusion: The Persian version of SFA has a desirable validity and reliability to use in children with physical disabilities and it can be used as a tool for clinical evaluation and physical therapeutic planning by specialists.