Turkish Version of the Montreal Children's Hospital Feeding Scale: Validity and Reliability Study in Children With Cerebral Palsy
Funding: This research was funded by Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu.
ABSTRACT
Background
This study was conducted to translate The Montreal Children's Hospital Feeding Scale (MCH-FS) into Turkish and to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Turkish version (T-MCH-FS) in children with cerebral palsy (CP).
Method
The study involved 160 children (70 children with CP and 90 typically developing children) aged 18 to 72 months. Karaduman Chewing Performance Scale (KCPS), Paediatric version of the Eating Assessment Tool-10 (PEDI-EAT-10) and Behavioral Pediatrics Feeding Assessment Scale (BPFAS) were used to examine the construct validity of the T-MCH-FS.
Results
Internal consistency was sufficient with a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.820. There were correlations between the T-MCH-FS and the KCPS (r = 0.377, p < 0.001), the PEDI-EAT-10 (r = 0.655, p < 0.001) and the BPFAS scores for total frequency, child frequency, parent frequency, restriction and poor strategies (p < 0.001).
Conclusions
The T-MCH-FS was found to be a reliable and valid instrument to evaluate feeding problems in children with CP and typically developing children.
WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS
- Feeding problems are very common in children with CP and cause stress for the individual and their caregivers.
- The MCH-FS is a practical and quick tool which provides a comprehensive overview regarding feeding problems.
- The T-MCH-FS has been shown to be a reliable and valid tool for assessing feeding problems in children with CP.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Open Research
Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.