Assessing body sensations in children: Intra-rater reliability of assessment and effects of age

Introduction: This article examines the effect of age and gender on somatosensory capacity for children and adolescents, and provides preliminary normative data and reliability for the SenScreen©Kids, a new standardised measure of touch, wrist position sense and haptic object recognition. Method: A...

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Main Authors: Taylor, S., McLean, B., Falkmer, Torbjorn, Carey, L., Girdler, Sonya, Elliott, Catherine, Blair, E.
Format: Journal Article
Published: The College of Occupational Therapists - UK 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/72224
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author Taylor, S.
McLean, B.
Falkmer, Torbjorn
Carey, L.
Girdler, Sonya
Elliott, Catherine
Blair, E.
author_facet Taylor, S.
McLean, B.
Falkmer, Torbjorn
Carey, L.
Girdler, Sonya
Elliott, Catherine
Blair, E.
author_sort Taylor, S.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Introduction: This article examines the effect of age and gender on somatosensory capacity for children and adolescents, and provides preliminary normative data and reliability for the SenScreen©Kids, a new standardised measure of touch, wrist position sense and haptic object recognition. Method: A cross-sectional study of 88 typically developing children aged 6–15 years (mean 10.3 years; SD 2.6 years) was used to determine the developmental effects of age and gender on somatosensory capacity. Intra-rater reliability was assessed in 22 of the 88 participants at two time points (mean 8.8 years; SD 2.6 years). Results: Statistically significant differences were observed between age groups for tactile discrimination, wrist position sense and haptic object recognition, but not for touch registration for which all except one participant achieved a maximum score. There was no effect of gender. Three of four SenScreen Kids subtests demonstrated good intra-rater agreement between time points. Conclusions: Somatosensory capacity increased with age for typically developing children aged 6–15 years. Three subtests of the SenScreen Kids demonstrated good intra-rater reliability with typically developing children. Further investigation of reliability is required, and all subtests require psychometric testing with clinical populations.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-722242019-07-10T04:59:25Z Assessing body sensations in children: Intra-rater reliability of assessment and effects of age Taylor, S. McLean, B. Falkmer, Torbjorn Carey, L. Girdler, Sonya Elliott, Catherine Blair, E. Introduction: This article examines the effect of age and gender on somatosensory capacity for children and adolescents, and provides preliminary normative data and reliability for the SenScreen©Kids, a new standardised measure of touch, wrist position sense and haptic object recognition. Method: A cross-sectional study of 88 typically developing children aged 6–15 years (mean 10.3 years; SD 2.6 years) was used to determine the developmental effects of age and gender on somatosensory capacity. Intra-rater reliability was assessed in 22 of the 88 participants at two time points (mean 8.8 years; SD 2.6 years). Results: Statistically significant differences were observed between age groups for tactile discrimination, wrist position sense and haptic object recognition, but not for touch registration for which all except one participant achieved a maximum score. There was no effect of gender. Three of four SenScreen Kids subtests demonstrated good intra-rater agreement between time points. Conclusions: Somatosensory capacity increased with age for typically developing children aged 6–15 years. Three subtests of the SenScreen Kids demonstrated good intra-rater reliability with typically developing children. Further investigation of reliability is required, and all subtests require psychometric testing with clinical populations. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/72224 10.1177/0308022618786933 The College of Occupational Therapists - UK restricted
spellingShingle Taylor, S.
McLean, B.
Falkmer, Torbjorn
Carey, L.
Girdler, Sonya
Elliott, Catherine
Blair, E.
Assessing body sensations in children: Intra-rater reliability of assessment and effects of age
title Assessing body sensations in children: Intra-rater reliability of assessment and effects of age
title_full Assessing body sensations in children: Intra-rater reliability of assessment and effects of age
title_fullStr Assessing body sensations in children: Intra-rater reliability of assessment and effects of age
title_full_unstemmed Assessing body sensations in children: Intra-rater reliability of assessment and effects of age
title_short Assessing body sensations in children: Intra-rater reliability of assessment and effects of age
title_sort assessing body sensations in children: intra-rater reliability of assessment and effects of age
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/72224