Validity and reliability of a bilateral assessment of locomotor skills in children

Abstract

Background: There is a paucity of empirical research on motor asymmetry in healthy children using currently available assessments. Objective: This study sought to develop bilateral tests for quantitative and qualitative assessment of locomotor skills in typically developing children and assess their validity and reliability. Methods: A sample of 78 children (35 girls, age 7.34 ± 0.53 years) underwent testing using three newly constructed bilateral tests: side rolling, single leg skips and single leg hops. Results: Between-subject reliability (Cronbach alpha:.97 to.98,.98 to.99,.98 to.99, respectively), within-subject reliability (coefficient of variation:.04 to.10,.05 to.11,.07 to.13, respectively), and between-rater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient:.81 to.92,.79 to.94, and.83 to.91, respectively), of all three tests were found to be very high. Further, considering laterality, the results indicate very high construct validity (explained variance by single-extracted factor ranged from 94.48 to 96.68, from 97.56 to 98.57, and from 96.53 to 98.09, respectively). Conclusions: The results suggest that the newly constructed tests can be implemented as a reliable and valid tool for the assessment of bilateral locomotor skills in children.