Psychometrics of the Functional Oral Intake Scale for Children With Dysphagia

This study proposed a FOIS for children and investigated the reliability and validity of the scale. Methods: We adapted the original FOIS into a scale for children by removing 2 item levels to generate a 5-point scale. This retrospective study included 194 children ages 1 to 7 years. Their nutrition records were evaluated separately by 2 raters using the FOIS for children. Dysphagia and aspiration severity were evaluated based on the findings from a videofluoroscopic swallowing study. For children partially dependent on tube feeding, medical records were investigated to determine whether full oral feeding was accomplished within 1 year. Results: The inter-rater reliability of FOIS for children had 97.4% agreement (weighted kappa = 0.985, intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.994). Significant associations were identified between the FOIS for children and aspiration severity (P 
Source: Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition - Category: Gastroenterology Tags: Original Articles: Nutrition Source Type: research