Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the 47-item Mobility Questionnaire in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a developmental-neurological disorder that is common in children. As children with CP have several problems and limitations regarding locomotion and mobility, accessing an assessment tool for measuring mobility is crucial. Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the 47-item mobility questionnaire in Iranian children with cerebral palsy between 6 and 12 years of age in Tehran, Iran September 2019. Methods: In this psychometric study, 202 participants (84 girls and 118 boys, with a mean age of 95.92 months ± 23.73), 15 parents, and nine occupational therapists participated. A multistage sampling method was used. Content, construct, convergent, and face validity were estimated. Internal validity and test-retest reliability were studied, too. The convergent validity of MobQ was studied according to the gross motor functions classification scale (GMFCS). Results: The results showed that all items of the 47-item mobility questionnaire had a content validity higher than the minimum acceptable value (0.78 for CVR and 0.79 for CVI). Further, based on the opinions of 9 experts and 15 persons completing the questionnaire, an understandable and unambiguous questionnaire was reported regarding face validity. The evaluation of the intragroup correlation coefficient s reliability in this study also showed that ICC was 0.998 and Cronbach s alpha coefficient value was 0.996. A Spearman correlation coefficient of 0.937 was obtained to assess the convergent validity of the Persian version of the Mobility Questionnaire and the Gross Motor Skills Classification Scale. Conclusions: The results of this study, therefore, showed that the Persian version of the 47-item mobility questionnaire had good psychometric characteristics for children with CP between 6 and 12 years of age. Therefore, this questionnaire can be suitable for measuring children s mobility in research and clinical studies.