Citation

Rossi C, Sullivan SJ. Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 1996; 77(10): 1062-1065.

Affiliation

L'Ecole de Réadaptation. Faculté de Médicine, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

8857887

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the test-retest reliability of selected motor fitness test items among children with severe traumatic brain injury. DESIGN: A cohort study consisting of two testing session, one week apart. SETTING: All subjects were recruited from among the former clients of a pediatric rehabilitation center. SUBJECTS: A convenience sample of 19 subjects, 13 boys and 6 girls aged 8 to 17 years, volunteered to participate. All participants had a diagnosis of a severe traumatic brain injury (X +/- SD = 5.88 +/- 1.71 on the Glascow Coma Scale), had completed a program of physical rehabilitation, and were evaluated at 4.16 +/- 2.61 years after their injury. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Performance on twelve motor fitness test items (including flexibility, agility, muscular strength, cardiorespiratory endurance, power, muscular endurance, and coordination) was measured at each of two structured evaluation sessions. RESULTS: No differences (t tests, p < or = .05) were found between the performances on the two testing sessions for any of the variables. The test-retest reliability was established via the intraclass correlation (ICC) and ranged from .84 to .98, indicating "almost perfect" agreement. CONCLUSION: The data indicate that these motor fitness testing protocols are reliable and applicable to traumatic brain injured children in a clinical setting and can thus be used by therapists to plan future interventions to improve the fitness of this clientele.

Language: en