The POSNA Pediatric Musculoskeletal Functional Health Questionnaire: Report on reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change

The goal of orthopaedic interventions is to improve the functional health o f patients, particularly physical function. The American Academy of Orthopa edic Surgeons and the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA ) commissioned a work group to construct functional health outcomes scales for children and adolescents, focusing on musculoskeletal health. The work group developed scales assessing upper extremity function, transfers and mo bility, physical function and sports, comfort (pain free), happiness and sa tisfaction, and expectations for treatment. Parent and adolescent self-repo rt forms were developed and tested on 470 subjects aged 2-18 years. The POS NA scales demonstrated good reliability, construct validity, sensitivity to change over a 9-month period, and ability to outperform a standard instrum ent, the Child Health Questionnaire physical functioning scale. They were u seful for a wide variety of ages and diagnoses. They appear to be ideally s uited for orthopaedic surgeons to assess the functional health and efficacy of treatment of their patients at baseline and follow-up.