The Reliability of a Pediatric Balance Scale Based on the Raters' Clinical Work Experience and Test Experience

Purpose: To investigate the rater reliability of a Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS) for children with cerebral palsy, and to investigate possible differences among raters according to their clinical work experience and testing experience. Methods: Study participants included 18 children with spastic cerebral palsy who could walk. They were instructed by pediatric physical therapists, two of whom had ten years of clinical work experience and two who had less than one year of experience. The children's ability to achieve physical balance was videotaped for PBS items. The raters watched the tapes and evaluated each child twice. Rater reliability was analyzed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Differences between experienced and novice raters were analyzed using a paired t-test. The statistical significance level was set to 0.05. Results: The total PBS scores averaged 45.78~48.00 and 45.72~47.67 for first and second tests. Intra-rater reliability was very high (ICC=0.89~0.99), and the repeated measurement coincidence was high (p>0.05). Inter-rater reliability was high (ICC=0.83~0.84), but there was a bit of a difference in the coincidence (p<0.05). The experienced raters' reliability and coincidence were higher than those of the novices, and there were differences in reliance and coincidence between experienced and novice raters (p<0.05). Conclusion: Inter-rater and intra-rater reliability is very high. However, rater reliability showed defferences depending on clinical work experience and testing experience. When testing pediatric patients with the PBS, the rater's clinical experience and test experience may affect the test results.