Reliability, sensitivity to change, and responsiveness of the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-Second Edition for children with cerebral palsy

Background and Purpose. The psychometric properties of the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-Second Edition (PDMS-2), a revised motor test to assess both gross motor and fine motor composites in children with cerebral palsy (CP), are largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the test-retest reliability and the responsiveness of the PDMS-2 for children with CP. Subjects. A sample of 32 children who had CP (age=27-64 months) and who received intervention participated in this study. Methods. The PDMS-2 was administered to each child 3 times (at the beginning of the study, at 1 week, and at 3 months later) by a physical therapist. The agreement between the first 2 measurements was used to examine the reliability. The change between the first and the third measurements was used to examine the responsiveness. Results. The composite scores on the PDMS-2 had good test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient=.88-1.00). The sensitivity-to-change coefficients ranged from 1.6 to 2.1, and the responsiveness coefficients ranged from 1.7 to 2.3. Discussion and Conclusion. Our results provide strong evidence that the 3 composites of the PDMS-2 had high test-retest reliability and acceptable responsiveness. The PDMS-2 can be used as an evaluative motor measure for children with CP and aged 2 to 5 years.