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Generating Items for a Novel Bedside Dysphagia Screening Tool Post Acute Pediatric Stroke

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Abstract

Bedside dysphagia assessment protocols are not well developed in acute pediatric stroke unlike adults. The objective of this study was to identify items deemed relevant and feasible by expert consensus to inform the development of a bedside dysphagia screening tool for acute pediatric stroke. A two-phase study was conducted: (1) literature review and expert consultation generated a comprehensive list of dysphagia assessment items; (2) items were formatted in an online survey asking respondents opinion of relevance to acute pediatric stroke and feasibility for bedside administration by a trained health professional. The Dillman Tailored Design approach optimized response rate. Respondents were identified using the snowball method. Speech-language pathologists with > 2 years in pediatric dysphagia were invited to complete the survey. Demographic and practice variables were compared using univariate statistics. Item relevance and feasibility were made using binary or ordinal responses, combined to derive item-content validity indices (I-CVI) to guide item reduction. Items with I-CVI > 0.78 (excellent content validity) were moved forward to tool development. Of the 71 invited respondents, 57(80.3%) responded, of which 34(59.6%) were from North America. Sixty-one items were generated of which 4(6.6%) items were rated ‘to keep’. These were face symmetry (I-CVI:0.89), salivary control (I-CVI:0.95), alertness (I-CVI:0.89) and choking (I-CVI:0.84). Of all respondents, 31(54.4%) endorsed swallowing trials, of which 25(80.6%) endorsed thin liquid by teaspoon (n = 17, 68%) or open cup (n = 20, 80%). We identified candidate items for bedside dysphagia screening with excellent content validity for acute pediatric stroke patients. Next steps include assessment of the psychometric value of each item in identifying dysphagia in children in the acute stage of recovery from stroke.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. Joan Arvedson, Dr. Maureen Lefton-Greif, Rebecca Perlin and Jennifer Wadds for their support in providing content expertise for this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, 160- 500 University Avenue, Toronto, ON, M5G 1V7, Canada

    Victoria Sherman, Deryk S. Beal & Rosemary Martino

  2. Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto, 160- 500 University Avenue, Toronto, ON, M5G 1V7, Canada

    Victoria Sherman, Deryk S. Beal & Rosemary Martino

  3. Pediatric Stroke Program, Division of Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Mahendranath Moharir

  4. Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Deryk S. Beal

  5. Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Kevin E.Thorpe

  6. Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Rosemary Martino

  7. Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Rosemary Martino

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  1. Victoria Sherman
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Correspondence to Victoria Sherman.

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Sherman, V., Moharir, M., Beal, D.S. et al. Generating Items for a Novel Bedside Dysphagia Screening Tool Post Acute Pediatric Stroke. Dysphagia 38, 278–289 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-022-10466-w

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