Reliability and validity of the pediatric feeding and swallowing disorders family impact scale for Turkish children with cerebral palsy by endoscopic evaluation

Özet

The caregivers of children with cerebral palsy (CP) have high mood disordersand stress levels. This study was aimed to conduct validity and reliability ofTurkish version of The Pediatric Feeding and Swallowing Disorders FamilyImpact Scale (PFSDFIS) by using an objective method. This study wasperformed in our physical medicine and rehabilitation (PMR) clinic betweenJuly 2016 and July 2018. This study was performed with 251 children withCP who had complaint of swallowing and/or feeding problems, and theirprimer caregivers. Cronbach’s alpha and corrected item-total correlationswere used to assess internal consistency. Test and retest reliability studieswere also conducted. The construct validity was assessed using the dysphagialevel defined with flexible fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing andImpact on Family Scale (IFS). Total score of T-PFSDFIS was correlated to thedysphagia level by using FEES. Results showed, Cronbach's alpha value ofthe scale to be 0.821. Corrected item-to-total correlations ranged from 0.729to 0.911. Test-retest reliability coefficients was calculated with intra-classcorrelation coefficient (ICC), the total score was 0.989. A negative significantgood level correlation was found between the dysphagia level by usingendoscopic evaluation and the T- PFSDFIS total score as well as between totalscores of IFS and T-PFSDFIS. In subgroup analysis; the lowest value was innormal swallowing and significantly different from all dysphagia levels. Inconclusion; this scale is effective in reflecting the influence of caregivers onthe severity of dysphagia measured objectively and T-PFSDFIS is a valid andreliable scale for Turkish children with CP.