A German Translation and Cross-Cultural Comparison of a Mobility Questionnaire (MobQues47) for Ambulant Children and Adolescents with Cerebral Palsy.

Abstract

Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a nonprogressive neurodevelopmental disorder caused by brain damage occurring before or around birth. Individuals demonstrate a heterogeneous range of mobility limitations that must be monitored and quantified in order to initiate and evaluate the effectiveness of treatments. The validated Mobility Questionnaire (MobQues47), initially available in Dutch, measures the mobility difficulties experienced when carrying out 47 indoor and outdoor activities by ambulant children and adolescents with CP, as rated by their parents/caregivers. This study aimed to translate the MobQues47 into German and compare the results between German- and Dutch-speaking individuals.

Methods: Parents/caregivers of 193 ambulant children and adolescents with CP (aged 4-18 years, Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels I-III) completed the MobQues47 during a visit to gait laboratories in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland. These German-speaking results were compared with the original Dutch data (N = 351).

Results: MobQues47 scores were significantly higher in the German-speaking group than in the Dutch group for GMFCS-levels I and II, but equal for GMFCS-level III. For both groups, scores for the indoor environment were significantly higher than those for the outdoor environment. The MobQues47 scores decreased (i.e., more mobility difficulties) significantly with increasing GMFCS-level for both groups.

Conclusion: More mobility limitations at higher GMFCS-levels support the discriminant validity of the German version of the MobQues47. However, the German scores were higher (i.e., fewer perceived mobility limitations) than Dutch scores for GMFCS-levels I and II. Due to this difference, region-specific reference values should be used for clinical use of the MobQuest47.