Inter-rater agreement of the Arabic Gross Motor Classification System Expanded & Revised in children with cerebral palsy in Jordan

Purpose: To examine the agreement among parents-report, research physiotherapists-report, and clinical physiotherapists-report using the Arabic-Gross Motor Classification System Expanded & Revised (GMFCS E&R) in classifying Jordanian children with cerebral palsy (CP). Methods: One-hundred and sixteen child with CP [mean age 4 years 7 months (SD = 4 years 5 months)] participated in the study. Parents were asked to classify their children using the Arabic-GMFCS family report questionnaires. Clinical and research physiotherapists were asked to classify children using the Arabic-GMFCS E&R. Agreement between respondents was determined using Cohen's linear weighted kappa statistic. Results: An excellent level of agreement was reported between research physiotherapists and clinical physiotherapists, substantial level of agreement between parents and research physiotherapists and moderate agreement between parents and clinical physiotherapists. Conclusions: The Arabic-GMFCS E&R is a reliable classification system that can be administrated by health care providers and parents of children with CP in Jordan to help plan services for children.