The Development and Evaluation of a Pediatric Interprofessional Education (IPE) Experience for Occupational and Physical Therapy Graduate Students.

Interprofessional competence is needed to improve health care outcomes. The aim of this paper is to describe the development of theoretically grounded interprofessional education (IPE) experiences to advance interprofessional competencies for occupational and physical therapy doctoral students. In addition, a pretest/postest survey was designed to determine the participants' perceptions of knowledge attainment, roles, and attitudes. Two cohorts of students (N = 115) completed surveys pre and post IPE experiences. Statistically significant changes were found on perception of roles and knowledge attainment. Additional studies are needed to determine if IPE leads to behavioral changes in practice and improves patient outcomes.

Effect of adapted motorized ride-on toy use on developmental skills, quality of life, and driving competency in nonambulatory children age 9-60 months.

Adapted motorized ride-on toys (AMTs) provide a feasible option for independent mobility in children with physical limitations. This study explores implications of AMT use on developmental domains and participation in daily activities. It also pilots the Power Mobility Skills Checklist (PMSC) for assessment of AMT operation competency. Nine nonambulatory children, ages 10-35 months, completed a 16-week AMT intervention. The Battelle Developmental Inventory-2 (BDI-2) and Assessment for Life Habits for Children (Life-H) were completed pre- and poststudy to evaluate developmental skills and participation in daily activities. The PMSC was completed at 2-week intervals to assess AMT driving ability. PMSC scores improved significantly for all participants across the intervention. BDI-2 developmental quotients demonstrated clinically significant gains in motor, cognitive, adaptive, communication, and personal-social domains, which varied between participants. Life-H changes were not significant. Improvements in PMSC change scores were associated with more total AMT sessions and increased BDI-2 gains. The PMSC may be effective for obtaining quantitative data on AMT operation and sensitive for assessing change in driving competency.

Examination of the effects of age, sex, and motor ability level on balance capabilities in children with cerebral palsy GMFCS levels I, II, III and typical development using the Pediatric Balance Scale.

PURPOSE: Explore effects of age, sex, and motor ability level on balance capabilities in preschoolers with and without Cerebral Palsy (CP). METHOD: PBS was administered to 477 children 24 through 59 months: 258 with typical development (TD) and 219 with CP GMFCS levels I, II and III. RESULTS: 3-way ANOVA indicated PBS scores were significantly affected by age (F4,437=26.95, p<0.0001, η2p=0.198), motor ability level (F3,437=482.15, p<0.0001, η2p=0.768) and sex (F1,437=4.64, p<0.03, η2p=0.01) with significant interaction between motor ability level and age (F 12,437=5.25, p<0.001, η2p=0.126). Children's performance on individual items was analyzed by age, sex and motor ability level. CONCLUSION: Children with TD outperformed children with CP GMFCS level I 36-59 months and children with CP GMFCS levels II and III 24-59 months. Expected performance values for children with TD and children with CP, ages 24-59 months, at GMFCS levels I, II and III are provided.

Psychometric Properties of the Pediatric Balance Scale Using Rasch Analysis.

PURPOSE: The Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS) is a 14-item measure of functional balance for children. This study examined PBS dimensionality, rating scale function, and hierarchical properties using Rasch analysis. METHODS: The PBS data were analyzed retrospectively for 823 children, aged 2 to 13 years, with uni- and multidimensional Rasch partial credit models. RESULTS: The PBS best fits a unidimensional model based on the Bayesian information criterion analysis (12,400.73 vs 12,404.48), strong correlations between 3 proposed dimensions (r = 0.946-0.979), and high internal consistency (Cronbach α = 0.94). Analysis of rating scale functioning is limited by small numbers of children achieving low scores on easy items. Item maps indicated a ceiling effect but no substantive gaps between item difficulty estimates. CONCLUSION: The PBS items are best targeted to preschool-age children; additional children with known balance dysfunction are required to fully assess functioning of the easiest PBS items. Revisions may improve PBS utility in older children.

The performance of children developing typically on the pediatric balance scale.

PURPOSE: To investigate Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS) performance in children developing typically. METHODS: The PBS was administered to 643 children developing typically per parent report, aged 2 years 4 months to 13 years 7 months. RESULTS: A 2-way analysis of variance and post hoc analyses identified significant age and gender differences in PBS performance. The Spearman rank correlation analysis identified associations between PBS scores and age, height, weight, and body mass index. Data were analyzed using 95% confidence intervals of the means to identify PBS typical performance ranges for each age and gender group. The lower bound of the 95% confidence intervals was used to identify outliers and determine a "critical cut score" for each group. The numbers and percentages of children scoring above and below this critical cut score were calculated to further describe the sample. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the clinician with guidelines for interpretation of PBS performance.

Assessment of a practice effect in serial sensory organization testing scores of healthy adults.

This study assessed whether a practice effect occurs across five serial administrations of the sensory organization test. Composite equilibrium scores and mean equilibrium scores from 30 healthy volunteers (M age=36.9, SD = 12.2 yr.) performing each of the six test conditions were examined using a two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance. Analysis yielded a significant interaction between testing condition and time, as well as significant main effects for both condition and time. Pairwise comparisons showed significant differences among test conditions and the first and second times of test administration. Analysis of simple effects between the two administrations identified significant increases in composite equilibrium scores and mean equilibrium scores on two sway-referenced support surface conditions, vision removed and sway-referenced visual surround. An immediate increase in equilibrium scores suggests clinicians and researchers allow one pracatice trial before recording test scores for baseline measurements.