Department of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2020 Jul 20;20(1):1139. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-09236-w.
Numerous movement skills and physical fitness tests have been developed for children in high-income countries. However, adaptation of these tests to low-resource settings has been slow and norms are still unavailable for children living in low-income communities. The aim of this paper was to describe the development and validation of the Performance and Fitness (PERF-FIT) test battery, a new test to assess motor skill-related physical fitness in children in low-resource settings.
The PERF-FIT test was developed in a stepwise manner. This involved defining the relevant domains of the construct of interest and selecting and evaluating test items. The Content Validity Index (CVI) was used to estimate content validity. Following development of the PERF-FIT test, a preliminary study was performed to validate items and to examine the feasibility of implementing the test in a low-resource community. Structural validity was also determined based on data from eighty (n = 80) children (aged 7-12 years) using principal component analysis.
The CVI for the throw and catch item was 0.86 and 1.00 for the other nine items, leading to a total CVI score of 0.99. The hierarchical sequence of the item series was demonstrated by highly significant (p < 0.001) linear trends, confirming the increase in difficulty of subsequent items. Principal component analysis revealed three factors; the first component is represented by locomotor skills that require static and dynamic balance, the second component by throwing and catching items and the third component by agility and power items. These findings suggest that it is feasible to implement the PERF-FIT in low-resource settings.
The PERF-FIT test battery is easy to administer and may be suitable for measuring skill-related physical fitness in in low-resource settings. It has excellent content validity and good structural validity. After minor adaptions, further studies should be conducted to establish normative values, evaluate reliability, and document criterion and cross-cultural validity of this test.
许多运动技能和身体素质测试已经为高收入国家的儿童开发出来。然而，这些测试在资源匮乏的环境中的适应性较慢，低收入社区的儿童仍然没有规范。本文的目的是描述性能和健康（PERF-FIT）测试套件的开发和验证，这是一种新的测试方法，用于评估资源匮乏环境中儿童的运动技能相关身体素质。
PERF-FIT 测试是分步骤开发的。这涉及到定义感兴趣的结构的相关领域，并选择和评估测试项目。内容有效性指数（CVI）用于评估内容有效性。在开发 PERF-FIT 测试之后，进行了一项初步研究，以验证项目并检查在资源匮乏的社区中实施测试的可行性。还基于八十名（n=80）儿童（年龄为 7-12 岁）的数据，使用主成分分析来确定结构有效性。
投掷和接球项目的 CVI 为 0.86，其他九个项目的 CVI 为 1.00，总 CVI 得分为 0.99。通过高度显著（p<0.001）的线性趋势，显示出项目系列的层次顺序，证实了后续项目难度的增加。主成分分析显示有三个因素；第一个因素由需要静态和动态平衡的移动技能表示，第二个因素由投掷和接球项目表示，第三个因素由敏捷性和力量项目表示。这些发现表明，PERF-FIT 在资源匮乏的环境中实施是可行的。
PERF-FIT 测试套件易于管理，可能适合测量资源匮乏环境中的技能相关身体素质。它具有出色的内容有效性和良好的结构有效性。经过微小的调整，应进一步进行研究，以建立该测试的常模值，评估可靠性，并记录该测试的标准和跨文化有效性。
