Development of the Gross Motor Function Family Report (GMF-FR) for Children with Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Purpose: To describe the initial steps in the development of a family-completed, modified version of the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM-88) to report gross motor function of young people with cerebral palsy in their natural environments. Methods: Development of the Gross Motor Function – Family Report (GMF-FR) was based on expert opinion involving 13 experienced clinicians and researchers, in four steps: (1) item identification to target items that reflect functional gross motor performance; (2) item selection; (3) critical analysis of the items; and (4) item and scoring modification. Results: Several modifications to existing items and scoring were made, including wording changes to optimize ease of families’ understanding, the addition of photographs to illustrate all items, changes to the items to enable use of furniture instead of specialized equipment, and modifications to scoring criteria to ensure a focus on functional motor skills. Ultimately, 30 items were selected, and specific testing/scoring instructions were created for each item. Conclusions: GMF-FR is a new family-report tool, based on the GMFM-88. When validated, it can be used as a telehealth outcome measure to capture family-reported functional motor skill performance in home and community environments.

Reliability, Knowledge Translation, and Implementability of the Spanish Version of the Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination

“…This suggests promise for a short screening version of HINE that could be video-recorded. Similarly, exploring an adapted version of the tool allowing family participation in requesting items could follow examples set by Prechtl's General Movement Assessment [31], the Alberta Infant Motor Scale [32], or the Gross Motor Function Measure [33].…”

Cross-cultural adaptation, reliability and validation of the Gillette Functional Assessment Questionnaire (FAQ) into Brazilian Portuguese in patients with cerebral palsy

“…These multidimensional instruments are focused on different aspects of the activity, with different forms of administration, and consider gait assessment and transfers within the context of mobility. In addition, the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM-88) is a tool used to assess the gross motor capacity of children and adolescents with PC (patient’s ability to execute a task or an action, at a given moment, in a uniform or standard environment) [ 9 ]. Also, some gait tests are reliable in patients with CP, such as comfortable gait speed and fast gait speed [ 10 ].…”