Seamon Bryant A, Sears Cynthia L, Anderson Emily, Velozo Craig A
College of Health Professions, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Division of Physical Therapy, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States.
College of Health and Society, Occupational Therapy Program, Hawai'i Pacific University, Honolulu, HI, United States.
Front Rehabil Sci. 2024 Jan 19;5:1243336. doi: 10.3389/fresc.2024.1243336. eCollection 2024.
The ability of children to accomplish progressively more difficult gross motor tasks follows a predictable sequence that has been well documented as part of development. Current existing instruments were developed independently using classical test theory methods which led to the lack of a universal measurement scale and unit. The purpose of this study was to test a specification equation, anchored to commonly accepted and reproducible tasks in gross motor development, to generate a universal measurement scale and unit of measurement, called the Gross Motor (GM) unit.
We rated component measures for each of the gross motor development tasks on the Gross Motor Function Measure-66 (GMFM). The GMFM is a gross motor development measure created with Rasch measurement theory to quantify observed difficulty levels measured on an interval scale. Component measures for body position, movement, and support were based on hypothesized contributions to gross motor development based on theory. Forward stepwise linear regression was used to test a specification equation. The specification equation was anchored to reference points to fix a unit size.
Our specification equation explained 87% of the variance in observed gross motor task difficulty. Predicted difficulty for gross motor tasks was strongly associated with observed task difficulty ( = 0.94, < 0.0001). Our specification equation was anchored to 1) lying supine (0 GM units) and 2) walking unsupported (100 GM units) setting the size of the GM unit to 1/100 of the distance between lying supine and unsupported walking.
Our specification equation allows for experimental testing of gross motor development theories. This approach provides a framework for refining our understanding and measurement of gross motor development and creates a universal scale and unit. We expect that this will facilitate placing many, if not all, current gross motor development instruments on the same measurement scale.
儿童完成逐渐复杂的大肌肉动作任务的能力遵循一个可预测的序列，这已被充分记录为发育的一部分。当前现有的工具是使用经典测试理论方法独立开发的，这导致缺乏通用的测量量表和单位。本研究的目的是测试一个规范方程，该方程以大肌肉动作发育中普遍接受且可重复的任务为基础，以生成一个通用的测量量表和测量单位，称为大肌肉动作（GM）单位。
我们对《大肌肉动作功能测量-66》（GMFM）中每个大肌肉动作发育任务的组成部分进行评分。GMFM是一种基于拉施测量理论创建的大肌肉动作发育测量工具，用于量化在等距量表上测量的观察到的难度水平。身体姿势、动作和支撑的组成部分基于理论对大肌肉动作发育的假设贡献。采用向前逐步线性回归来测试一个规范方程。该规范方程以参考点为基础来确定单位大小。
我们的规范方程解释了观察到的大肌肉动作任务难度中87%的方差。大肌肉动作任务的预测难度与观察到的任务难度密切相关（=0.94，<0.0001）。我们的规范方程以1）仰卧（0 GM单位）和2）独立行走（100 GM单位）为基础，将GM单位的大小设定为仰卧和独立行走之间距离的1/100。
我们的规范方程允许对大肌肉动作发育理论进行实验性测试。这种方法为完善我们对大肌肉动作发育的理解和测量提供了一个框架，并创建了一个通用的量表和单位。我们预计这将有助于将许多（如果不是全部）当前的大肌肉动作发育工具置于同一测量量表上。
