Development of a reliable, valid measure to assess parents' and teachers' understanding of postural care for children with physical disabilities: the (UKC PostCarD) questionnaire

Background: Previous research has highlighted a lack of knowledge, understanding and confidence among parents and teachers responsible for the postural care of children with a physical disability. Interventions designed to improve these qualities require a reliable and validated tool to assess pre and post intervention levels. Currently, however, no validated measure of postural care confidence (i.e. Self-efficacy) exists. Hence, the aim of this research was to develop a reliable and valid questionnaire to assess parents’ and teachers’ confidence, alongside knowledge and understanding of postural care– the Understanding Knowledge and Confidence in providing POSTural CARe for children with Disabilities (UKC PostCarD) Questionnaire.<br /><br />Methods: Items were developed by a multidisciplinary team and designed to map onto the content of ‘An A-to-Z of Postural Care’ (Hutton et al., 2009). Parents, teachers and therapists assessed items for face validity; scale reliability was then assessed using Cronbach’s alpha and known-groups validity was assessed by comparing scores of an ‘expert’ group (physiotherapists and occupational therapists) with those of a ‘non-expert’ group (with no formal training in postural care).<br /> <br />Results: The total scale and all three subscales (understanding-and-knowledge, confidence and concerns) demonstrated adequate reliability (α>.83) and subscale correlations formed a logical pattern (understanding-and-knowledge correlated positively with confidence and negatively with concerns). Experts’ (N=111) scores were higher than non-experts’ (N=79) for the total scale and all subscales (p<.001).<br /> <br />Conclusion: Findings support the reliability and validity of the UKC PostCarD questionnaire as a measure of understanding, knowledge and confidence in providing postural care for children with disabilities.