To Determine the Reliability and Validity of the Persian Translation of the Manual Ability Classification System for Children with Cerebral Palsy

This study examines the reliability and cross-cultural validation of the Persian translation of the Manual Ability Classification System (MACS) for children with cerebral palsy (CP).

To investigate the validity and reliability of the Persian translation, first forward and backward translation was done and then content validity, inter-rater and test–retest reliability was determined using parents and occupational therapists the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and the weighted Kappa coefficient. 100 Children (4 to 18 years old, with the age mean of 85.15 months; 63 boys, 37 girls) with various types of CP were classified according to MACS by both the parents and the therapists. Additional data on the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), intellectual delay, visual acuity, auditory acuity and epilepsy were collected.

The inter-rater reliability was high, and the ICC was 0.96 (ranged from 0.94 to 0.97) among the occupational therapists and parents. The ICC for the test–retest reliability was high, and the ICC related to parents was 0.97 (it ranged from. 95 to. 98) and the ICC related to occupational therapists was 0.97 (it ranged from. 96 to. 98). There was a total agreement between the GMFCS and the MACS.

The Persian version of the MACS is valid and reliable, and accordingly we can suggest it for the Iranian population.