Psychometric properties of Child Sensory Profile-2 (CSP-2) among children with spastic cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy (CP) is not just caused by neuromuscular abnormalities; it is also a result of an impaired sensory system. Since there is not a standardized measure to evaluate sensory processing of children with spastic CP, therefore an in-depth assessment of sensory processing deficits in children with spastic CP would require an understanding of the validity and reliability of the Child Sensory Profile-2 (CSP-2) in children with spastic CP. The sample of this study included 230 children with spastic CP aged 3 to 14 years who referred to different paediatric rehabilitation centres of Delhi-NCR from April 2021 and September 2023 by using the snowball sampling procedure. To collect the data, the CSP-2 caregiver questionnaire was used. For validity, face and content validity were determined. For reliability, internal consistency of all the responses was examined using Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient. For validity, experts involved in the study reported that the organization and design of the questionnaire would be appropriate for the children with spastic CP. All the items of the CSP-2 questionnaire were simple and easy to understand. Internal consistency was also calculated for total items (N = 86) and found to be 0.898 which indicates that all items of the questionnaire are internally consistent and reliable.

Conclusion: According to the findings of our study, the CSP-2 is a valid and reliable measure for evaluating sensory processing in children with spastic CP. Additionally, it may be an appropriate tool for accurately assessing this population's sensory processing deficits.

What is known: • Sensory processing deficits commonly concur with motor deficit in children with CP. Overall prevelance of sensory processing deficit was 83% in children with CP.

What is new: • Child Sensory Profile-2 is a reliable and valid tool for measuring sensory processing abilities in children with CP.