CORREDEIRA, Rui; SILVA, Adília    FONSECA, António M.. Physical Perceived Competence in children with Cerebral Palsy: what relationships with parents perception and their own motor function. []. , 8, 1, pp.9-21. ISSN 1645-0523.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the actual motor function level of children with cerebral palsy, aged between 4 and 9 years old, their physical self-perceived competence and their parents’ when compared to them. The Portuguese version of the Dutch Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for children with Cerebral Palsy - EPPCASCPPp - was used in 81 children and their parents, and the Portuguese version of the Gross Motor Function Measure (66 items version) - TMFM-66 - was used only for the children. Three different groups of motor impairment were defined by using the TMFM-66 aplication. The EPPCASCPCp (physical competence subscale) scores of the children and their parents showed that in general and independently of their motor impairment, those children presented high perceived competence levels. We also found that the children’s physical competence evaluation was always higher when comparing to that of their parents, and concomitantly, the average physical competence scores perceived by both decreased as the level of motor impairment assessed by TMFM-66 increased. The correlations between motor function and physical perceived competence were moderate, but higher when comparing the parents evaluation (r=0,621) to the children’s perceptions (r=0,503). These findings suggest that the EPPCASCPCp is adequate as an indirect pointer of motor function evaluation in cerebral palsy children.

: cerebral palsy; physical perceived competence; motor function.

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