Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Preliminary Validation of the Italian Version of the Feeding-Swallowing Impact Survey for both Members of Parental Dyads.
Alessandra Baffi, Valeria Crispiatico, Edoardo Nicolò Aiello and 5 others
PMID 40053085WHAT IT FOUND
The Italian Feeding-Swallowing Impact Survey reliably measures caregiver burden for both mothers and fathers.
It accurately distinguishes parents of children with feeding disorders from those without, using specific cut-off scores. Mothers and fathers report similar levels of impact, despite mothers doing more mealtime work.
Key findings
01The survey showed high internal consistency for both mothers and fathers and excellent test-retest reliability.
02The tool accurately distinguished parents of children with feeding disorders from controls, with high sensitivity and specificity for both mothers and fathers.
03Mothers and fathers reported similar levels of impact on their lives, even though mothers were significantly more involved in mealtime assistance.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was small (47 dyads), limiting the ability to compare different diagnoses or age groups. The study did not include instrumental swallowing assessments (like videofluoroscopy) to validate the survey against physiological data. Children with craniofacial malformations were under-represented. The study did not analyze the survey's factor structure or its ability to detect changes over time (responsiveness).
Declared interests
The study was funded by Università degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca. The authors declared no other conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this survey measures swallowing ability or medical severity. It measures the psychosocial impact on the parent. Also, do not assume fathers are less stressed because they do less mealtime work; the data shows both parents report similar levels of burden.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →