The purpose of this study was to validate the Korean version of the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) using Rasch analysis. The data was obtained from the assessments of 59 children with cerebral palsy in Korea and were applied to Rasch's rating scale model to estimate the difficulty and goodness-of-fit of each item. Rasch modeling helped us to identify 76 items from the original 88-item GMFM that form an unidimensional hierarchical scale to rearrange 76 items in order of difficulty. Reliability coefficients of the 88-item and 76-item GMFM were .99 and .99, respectively. In this preliminary report, the Korean version of GMFM seems to have significant validity and reliability. These results may be useful in assessment of gross motor functions in children with cerebral palsy.

The purpose of this study was to examine the inter-rater reliability of the Korean translation of the GMFM(Gross Motor Function Measure). Three licensed physical therapists with varying amounts(2 - 6 years) of clinical experience served as raters. Thirty patients with cerebral palsy were subjects for this study. Subjects were 22 boys and 8 girls, aged 1 to 8 years. Reliability of each dimension and each total score of the GMGM were analyzed using ICCs(intraclass correlation coefficients). The reliability of each dimension score ranged from .76 to .98, with the walking, running, and jumping dimension having higher reliability values. The reliability of the total dimension score was .94. We conclude that the GMFM has inter-rater reliability for assessing gross motor function in patients with cerebral palsy.