Volume 60, Issue 4 e70074
RESEARCH REPORT

Turkish Version of the Montreal Children's Hospital Feeding Scale: Validity and Reliability Study in Children With Cerebral Palsy

Özgü İnal Özün

Corresponding Author

Özgü İnal Özün

Gülhane Faculty of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Department of Neurologic Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, University of Health Sciences, Ankara, Turkey

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Sevilay Karahan

Sevilay Karahan

Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biostatistics, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

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Mustafa Cemali

Mustafa Cemali

Trakya University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Occupational Therapy, Edirne, Turkey

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Selen Serel Arslan

Selen Serel Arslan

Faculty of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

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First published: 11 July 2025

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

What is already known on the subject
  • Feeding problems are very common in children with CP and cause stress for the individual and their caregivers.
What this paper adds to existing knowledge
  • The MCH-FS is a practical and quick tool which provides a comprehensive overview regarding feeding problems.
What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?
  • 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.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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