AIMS Article Summary

Posted on: February 27, 2021 | By: natwood | Filed under: Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS)

Title: Reliability, Consistency and Temporal Stability of Alberta Infant Motor Scale in Serbian Infants (Lackovic et al., 2020)

Summary

Part 1
Purpose: The primary goal was to translate and assess the effectiveness of the AIMS outcome measure for Serbian infants.
Population: This study included 60 infants with inclusion criteria of between age 0-14 months and being at risk for motor delay. The participants were grouped into 0-3 months, 4-7 months, and 8-14 months for the statistical analysis.
Methods: First it was necessary to translate the AIMS from English to Serbian. This process followed a forward-backward method for translation with a final version created based on agreement from all qualified parties. The final Serbian version was then trialed on infants to ensure completeness of the form. The competency of raters was achieved via training and qualifications to administer the AIMS. Once both of the above were completed, then the participants were recruited and tested via the final Serbian version of the AIMS. There were two raters who administered the AIMS twice at initial testing and a retest 5 days later. The raters were not allowed to discuss ratings with each other.
Outcome Measures: A Serbian version of the AIMS was used and evaluated. The AIMS is norm-referenced, observational, and performance-based with high sensitivity and specificity in motor deficit detection. The AIMS is used to evaluate functional capacities, spontaneous movement activities, and movement quality. The AIMS consists of 58 items divided into four subscales including pronation, supination, sitting, and standing. Each item has three main descriptors of motor performance including weight-bearing, posture, and antigravity movement.
Intervention: There were no traditional interventions included in this study.
Results: This study found that the Serbian version of the AIMS has excellent consistency, intra- and inter-rater reliability, and temporal stability which are desirable.

Part 2
Strengths: This study implemented various strategies to avoid biases such as the forward-backward method of translation and also by not allowing the raters to discuss findings.
Limitations: This study utilized referrals of participants from one institution only thus it will be important to further investigate these findings in various institutions across Serbia. Additionally, there were a relatively small number of participants for this study which may impact the statistical power. The participants were also not randomly selected. Lastly, no other established motor infant tests have been concurrently performed to validate the findings from this study.

Part 3
Conclusion: This study concluded that because of the high consistency and reliability, plus the temporal stability that the Serbian AIMS measure can be used to evaluate infant motor development in Serbia.

 

One response to “AIMS Article Summary”

  1. kmiller61 says:

    Great summary of this article! My first thoughts were that it’s extremely important to effectively translate an outcome measure like the AIMS to use in other cultures and regions around the globe. After reading your review I’m wondering how results from an outcome measure like the AIMS may potentially vary across different cultures based on the ways different cultures raise and handle their infants? I think that could be an extremely informative and interesting future use of the Serbian AIMS and other translations of this outcome measure should they be created.

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