Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine reliability and validity of Simple Motor Test for Cerebral Palsy (SMTCP). Fourty-six children with cerebral palsy were recruited from 8 institutes for physically handicapped children. Inclusion criteria for children were, diagnosis as cerebral palsy, level II to IV of motor function classified with Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), and age of 2 to 12 years. Interrater reliability, content validity, criterion validity, and construct validity were examined. The interrater reliability was fairly high (ICC (1, 2)=0.929). In order to determine content validity twenty evaluators answered the questionnaire for inclusion of each item. Twenty-nine items was supported by 75% or more of evaluators attended to this study. In criterion validity study, the rank order correlation co-efficient between the each child's level of GMFCS and the score of SMTCP was -0.732 (p<0.01) Among two hypothesis in the construct validity study, the existence of correlation between the change of score in SMTCP and the judgment of three observers (i. e., blinded evaluator, treating clinicians and parents) was documented. However, the change of score in SMTCP for children with age of six years or older was not significantly smaller than that for children with age under six years. Further study with children who have a possibility of large change in gross motor function within six to nine months would be necessary to re-check construct validity of SMTCP. After these procedures, the final version of SMTCP with twenty-seven items was developed.
