Brief assessment of motor function: content validity and reliability of the fine motor scale.

Purpose: The Brief Assessment of Motor Function Fine Motor Scale (FMS) allows rapid assessment, independent of age. This study was done to establish content validity of the FMS and to demonstrate FMS reliability.

Methods: A standard questionnaire ("Disagree" to "Agree," 1-4) was emailed to 28 expert panel members. Ten children with diagnoses including Proteus, Sheldon-Freeman, Smith-Lemli-Opitz, and Smith-Magenis syndromes were videotaped for reliability trials.

Results: Expert panel members agreed that all 28 items should be included (means, 3.43-3.89); were functionally relevant (means, 2.93-3.82), were clearly worded (means, 2.71-3.61), and were easily discriminated (means, 3.32-4.0). Kappa values for interrater and intrarater reliability were 0.978 and 0.993, respectively.

Conclusions: Feedback from an expert Panel supported content validity of the Brief Assessment of Motor Function FMS. Kappa values for interrater and intrarater reliability suggest this is a reliable instrument for rapid, objective fine motor assessment.