reliability of persian handwriting assessment tool in iranian primary school students

Objectives: handwriting problems are among the most frequent reasons for case referrals to school-based occupational therapy centers. persian handwriting assessment tool (phat) is a valid tool available in iran to evaluate handwriting components in school-aged children. however, its reliability has not been investigated yet. this study aimed to determine the reliability of the phat in iranian primary school-aged children. methods: the current methodological study was performed in tehran city, iran during 2015-2016. in total, 208 primary school-aged students participated in this study that aimed to investigate the internal consistency of the phat. forty-eight students were also recruited to examine the intra- and inter-rater reliabilities of the phat. selection of the schools and sampling were conducted using the random cluster sampling method. results: results suggested good to excellent internal consistency (α=0.84 to 0.99) for the measures of phat in dictation and copying domains. intra-rater reliability of the phat ranged from 0.87 to 1.00. furthermore, phat inter-rater reliability ranged from 0.7-1.00. discussion: the phat is a reliable tool to evaluate handwriting components in primary school-aged children. it can also be useful for iranian therapists to identify primary school students with handwriting problems