Berg Balance Scale Reliability for Evaluation in Children with Spastic Diplegia

Abstract

Objective: Assessment of balance in children with neurological disorders is quite necessary in any rehabilitation therapy. There are various versions of balance tests for balance assessment of adults however, little has been done with regard to introducing a reliable test for evaluation of the balance in children with spastic cerebral palsy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the inter and intrarater reliability of Berg balance scale in children with spastic diplegia. Materials & Methods: In this descriptive and methodological study twenty spastic diplegia children with non probability selection participated. Children were in the range of 6-12 Yrs (Mean, SD, 7/35 &1/84 yrs, respectively). Parents were asked to sign an informed consent. Berg balance scale was tested in one session by two therapists for interrater reliability (inter-rating) and repeated tests were tested for intrarater reliability (intra-rating). Results: Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) test was used for interrater (between two therapists, ICC= 0/985, P<0/001 and intra rater reliability repeated test by the same therapist, ICC= 0/994 , P<0/001 ). Conclusion: The result of this study suggests that inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of Berg balance scale is acceptable. Therefore, it could be used in clinic for the assessment of children with spastic diplegia as a reliable scale.

Keywords

• Cerebral palsy
• Berg balance scale
• Reliability tests
• Spastic diplegia