RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF THE TURKISH VERSION OF THE CAREGIVER FUNCTIONAL USE SURVEY

Purpose: Poor bimanual performance is usually a major functional impairment for children with unilateral cerebral palsy (CP). This study was performed to examine the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Caregiver Functional Use Survey (CFUS), which assesses manual function of children with unilateral CP. Methods: Fifty children with unilateral CP and their parents were included in the study. The test-retest reliability was assessed using Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), and internal consistency by calculating Cronbach alpha values. Association level between other outcomes measures (Jebsen Taylor Hand Function Test, JTT, and Manual Ability Classification System, MACS) and the Turkish version of the CFUS was analyzed to determine the criterion validity. Four one factorial confirmatory factor analyses to validate uni-dimensionality of the CFUS were performed. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the one-dimensional structure of the "amount of use" and "quality of movement" parts of the CFUS for unimanual and bimanual tasks. Results: The Turkish version of the CFUS showed a high degree of internal consistency (Cronbach alpha=0.92-0.94). The ICCs ranged between 0.90 and 0.93. There was a negative correlation between all the subscales of the CFUS and the MACS and the JTT (p<0.05). Conclusion: The Turkish version of CFUS is a reliable and valid tool for assessing the upper extremity functions in children with unilateral CP.