The development of self-management abilities in children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has the potential to enhance disease outcomes. In this group, no evaluation methods are available to measure self-management abilities. The IBD-Skills Tasks and Abilities Record (IBD-STAR) is a tool that was created to assess children’s distribution of responsibility for certain skills. IBD-STAR consists of 18 items that are evaluated according to whether they are performed independently, with assistance, or not at all. IBD-STAR was completed by children with IBD, and one parent and a gastroenterologist completed a series of visual analogue scales that matched each IBD-STAR component. Children’s IBD-STAR ratings were compared to parent and clinician visual analogue scale scores and compared to independent factors. Cronbach’s alpha was used to calculate reliability. Twenty-five Cronbach’s alpha with IBD participated, with a mean age of 14 years, 14 boys, and 21 Crohn’s disease patients. The average IBD-STAR score was 27.1, corresponding to a 75 percent score. In all areas, parents consistently underestimated their children, while professional evaluations were more closely linked. IBD-STAR had a high level of reliability, with an overall Cronbach’s alpha of 0.84.
IBD-STAR indicates that children and clinicians agree on the distribution of responsibility for self-management abilities, with understandable discrepancies with their parents. A tool like this may be used to identify children with IBD who need help or to assess the effectiveness of focused therapies.
