Children under age 8 had many items which were commented on by interviewer and coded as unable to read or difficulty with comprehension. In addition, several children selleck chem Trichostatin A who completed interviews were in kindergarten, first or second grades. These children also had difficulty with reading and comprehension. Therefore it was decided that the refined items were written for children 8 years and older who have completed second grade. Table 2 Cognitive interview coding for problematic items. Item Development �� The final number of items developed for each and examples are provided in Table 3. Items for child and parent respondents differ only in terms of how the person is referred to, for example, ��I can turn my power wheelchair on�� and ��My child can turn the power wheelchair on.

�� Table 3 Total number of items and examples for each construct, domain and subdomain. Because adequate items to assess the pediatric SCI population do not exist in current outcomes measures, new items were often written, making the task appropriate for and specific to both pediatrics and spinal cord injury. Within the mobility domain of activity performance, 4 subdomains were generated. The first was general mobility; the items in this domain focused on actions such as bed mobility and transfers. These items were extremely specific, for example, asking about not only an individual’s ability to move in bed (i.e., supine to sit) but also the ability to get under the sheets in bed once in bed. Two subdomains were created regarding the use of wheeled mobility: power or manual wheelchair use.

These items, regardless of wheelchair type, not only addressed an individual’s ability to maneuver the wheelchair but also addressed the terrain, whether they need to carry something in addition to moving the wheelchair and wheelchair parts management. Lastly, while ambulation is a less used means of mobility in the SCI population, items were written to address ambulation with various assistive device, and on various terrains. A second domain within activity performance was self care. This domain addressed tasks such as feeding, dressing, and hygiene. Items were written to be sensitive enough to distinguish between various levels of upper extremity ability. These items included the use of hands splints if applicable, completing an activity with two hands, one hand, or even an individual’s mouth.

The third domain within activity performance is children’s areas of occupational performance. These items addressed play and leisure, chores and household tasks, Anacetrapib and school performance. Like self care, these items were written to distinguish between various levels of upper extremity function and asked questions using hand splints and whether a task is completed with two hands, one hand, or with an individual’s mouth.