Department of Developmental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris, Pisa, Italy.
Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Hum Mov Sci. 2021 Feb;75:102717. doi: 10.1016/j.humov.2020.102717. Epub 2020 Dec 23.
To develop a new protocol for the assessment of action observation (AO) abilities and imitation of meaningful and non-meaningful gestures, to examine its psychometric properties in children with DCD and typically developing (TD) children.
For learning manual skills, AO and imitation are considered fundamental abilities. Knowledge about these modalities in children with DCD is scarce and an assessment protocol is lacking.
The protocol consists of 2 tests. The AO test consists of two assembly tasks. The imitation test includes 12 meaningful and 20 non-meaningful gestures. Items of both tests are rated on a 4-point scale. Twelve children with DCD (mean age 8y3m, SD, 1.30) and 11 TD children (mean age 8y2m, SD 1.52) were enrolled. For inter-rater reliability, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated for the total score, weighted kappa and percentage agreement for single items. Known group validity was assessed by comparison of DCD and TD group (Wilcoxon rank sum test). For construct validity, the mABC-2 test was used. The protocol was adapted and confirmed by an intra and inter-rater reliability study (new sample of 11 DCD children, mean age 7y5m, SD 1.37).
Excellent ICCs were reported for intra and inter-rater reliability for the final protocol. A significant difference between DCD and TD group was found for AO abilities (p < .01), for nonmeaningful gestures (p < .001). A significant correlation was reported between the AO test and the mABC-2 test (r = 56;p ≤0.0001). No significant correlations were revealed for the imitation tests.
The results support the psychometric properties of this protocol. When fully validated, it may contribute to map the deficits in AO abilities and imitation, to evaluate treatment effects of imitation and AO interventions.
制定一种新的动作观察（AO）能力和有意义及无意义手势模仿评估方案，检验其在运动发育障碍（DCD）儿童和典型发育（TD）儿童中的心理测量学特性。
对于手技能的学习，AO 和模仿被认为是基本能力。关于 DCD 儿童这些模式的知识匮乏，且缺乏评估方案。
方案由 2 个测试组成。AO 测试包括 2 个组装任务。模仿测试包括 12 个有意义和 20 个无意义的手势。两个测试的项目均按 4 分制评分。共纳入 12 名 DCD 儿童（平均年龄 8y3m，SD 1.30）和 11 名 TD 儿童（平均年龄 8y2m，SD 1.52）。为评估组内和组间信度，计算了总分、单项加权 Kappa 和百分比一致性的组内相关系数（ICC）。通过 DCD 和 TD 组的比较（Wilcoxon 秩和检验）评估了已知组间的有效性。为评估结构效度，使用了 mABC-2 测试。该方案通过内部和外部可靠性研究（新的 11 名 DCD 儿童样本，平均年龄 7y5m，SD 1.37）进行了调整和验证。
最终方案的组内和组间信度均报告了极好的 ICC。DCD 组和 TD 组在 AO 能力（p<0.01）和无意义手势（p<0.001）方面存在显著差异。AO 测试和 mABC-2 测试之间报告了显著相关性（r=56；p≤0.0001）。模仿测试之间没有发现显著相关性。
结果支持该方案的心理测量学特性。当充分验证后，它可以有助于描绘 AO 能力和模仿的缺陷，评估模仿和 AO 干预的治疗效果。
