ASSESSMENT OF ADHERENCE WITH MULTIPLE INFORMANTS IN PREADOLESCENTS WITH SPINA-BIFIDA - INITIAL DEVELOPMENT OF A MULTIDIMENSIONAL, MULTITASKPARENT-REPORT QUESTIONNAIRE

Adherence to medical regimens was assessed in 67 pre-adolescents with spina bifida (8- and 9-year-olds; 37 boys, 30 girls), with mother, fat her, teacher, and health professional report. The Parent-Report of Med ical Adherence in Spina Bifida Scale (PROMASB) was developed and inclu des multidimensional scales for the following tasks: catheterization, bowel care, skin care, medication, and ambulation. With few exceptions , the PROMASB has adequate psychometric properties. However, findings revealed modest to low correlations between respondents. Mothers and f athers reported significantly more noncompliance than teachers and hea lth professionals. For the most part, all informants reported that mos t children were compliant across all tasks. Additional analyses based on qualitative data suggest that parents attribute compliance difficul ties to motivational as well as attentional-memory factors.