Introduction: Assessing the safety, tolerance, and satisfaction of a chest physiotherapy program (CPP) based on Assisted Autogenic Drainage and Physical Exercise will be essential for implementing chest physiotherapy (CP) in infants with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) from neonatal screening (NS) diagnosis. Currently, there is no consensus regarding the optimal initiation of CP due to the treatment burden imposed by airway clearance techniques on families, which may compromise adherence. To evaluate patient satisfaction with CPP in infants with CF, the Airway Clearance Satisfaction Survey (ACSS) was translated and validated from English to Spanish.
Methodology: Following NS-confirmed diagnosis of infants with CF, CPP (Assisted Autogenic Drainage and Physical Exercise) was initiated. Each session included assessments of safety (oxygen saturation, respiratory and heart rate, auscultation, presence of cough, expectoration, retractions, and vomiting), tolerance (parent-reported session tolerance survey, wakefulness-sleep state, presence of crying, session duration), and satisfaction (ACSS total score every three months). The ACSS underwent a forward and backward translation process, followed by psychometric validation in Spanish.
Results: A total of 10 infants with CF were included. CP was initiated at a median age of 57 days of life. In total, 565 sessions were conducted, with a median duration of 30 min. Safety parameters indicated a mean oxygen saturation of 99%, respiratory rate of 47 bpm, and heart rate of 130 bpm, cough was observed in 22% of sessions and retractions in 4%. No reported adverse effects. The median tolerance score was 5/5. Satisfaction outcomes revealed a median ACSS total score of 4.95/5. The psychometric validation of the Spanish ACSS version yielded the following results: Reliability – ICC = 0.92, Cronbach’s alpha = 0.96, SEM = 0.10, MDC = 0.27, ceiling effect = 8.24%, floor effect = 0%. Validity – SRMR = 0.151, GFI = 0.962, RMSEA = 0.138, Normed Chi-Square = 2.610, TLI = 0.964, CFI = 0.970, and NFI = 0.953.
Conclusions: The chest physiotherapy program, based on Assisted Autogenic Drainage and Physical Exercise, implemented in infants with CF from NS diagnosis up to two years of age, demonstrated high safety, tolerance, and satisfaction, confirmed by the Spanish version of the Airway Clearance Satisfaction Survey, translated and validated for this study.
| Date of Award | 21 May 2025 |
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| Original language | Spanish |
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| Supervisor | Montserrat Bosque Garcia (Director) |
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