| Summary: | 碩士 === 長庚大學 === 物理治療學系 === 100 === BACKGROUNDS/PURPOSES: Using neuromotor deviation as an early life marker for development delay is critical in the early intervention service. The Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) is a norm-referenced test that assesses the spontaneous motor performance of infants from birth through independent walking (0-18 months). The Harris Infant Neuromotor Test (HINT) is newly developed as a screening tool for potential motor and cognitive developmental disorders in infants. However, the psychometric properities of the AIMS and the HINT were not fully examined yet, especially in Taiwan. Because independent sitting is often the first missed or delayed milestone indicating a posture or movement disorder. The analysis of centre of pressure (COP) excursions in sitting can be used as an index of postural stability. Previous studies showed that the COP assessment is a reliable method for examining the postural control in young infants. However, the relationships between the COP measurement and the standardized neuromotor measures (e.g. AIMS and HINT) were not examined yet. The aims of this project were 1) to examine the reliability and the validity of two standardized neuromotor measures, the AIMS and the HINT, and 2) to explore the relationships among those two standardized neuromotor measures and the COP measurements during sitting. METHODS: A sample of convenience of 53 infants and their parents participated in this study. According to the manuals of the AIMS and the HINT, the infants were assessed and filmed by videotaping simultaneously. A total of 61 videos were collected and used for the intra-rater reliability and the concurrent validity studies. The predictive validity of 29 infants was calculated. The data of the AIMS and the HINT were analyzed using ICC(3,1) for the intra-rater reliability study and applying the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient for the concurrent validity study. In addition, the infants were divided into two groups (the health group vs. the no risk group) based upon the concerns of their parents. The known-groups method was used to assess the construct validity of the HINT. The COP measurements were administered to the infants who were at 6 to 7months of age. The COP data in quite sitting was recorded and analysed for 30 seconds for three trials. The Spearman rank correlation coefficients were used to explore the relationships between the AIMS and the COP measurements, as well as the HINT and the COP measurement. RESULTS: The intra-rater reliability of the AIMS and the HINT varied from 0.70 to 0.99 and from 0.94 to 0.98 respectively. The concurrent validity of the AIMS and the HINT was good to excellent (r=-0.81~ -0.93). The results of the known group comparison showed that there were statistically significance between the two groups (p<0.005). The relationships between the COP and the total score of the AIMS for the whole group was fair to excellent (r = 0.29~ 0.78) at 6 to 7 months while the COP and the total score of the HINT was fair to excellent (r =-0.38~ -0.78). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study provided the psychometric properiteis of the AIMS and the HINT in Taiwan. Despite the small sample size, statistically significant correlations between the standardized neuromotor measures and the COP measurement were noted. It implieded that the COP measurements might be useful for detecting the small difference of motor functions among the infants. The future study was warrant.
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