Editorial
Antonis Kambas, PhD Associate Professor Editor-in-Chief Download (pdf, 253kb)
Volume 8 – 2016
Aspects of reliability and validity of the TGMD-3 in 7-10 year old children with intellectual disability in Belgium
The Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD) developed by Ulrich (1985) is one of the widely known test instruments for assessing fundamental movement skills in children. Changes were made to the new TGMD-3. A total of 19 participants (boys = 14 and girls =5) were recruited for the study from ages 7-10 years old in a special school in Belgium. The results showed an acceptable level of Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency for locomotor subtest α = 0.76, but not for ball skills subtest α = 0.60. Spearman’s rho correlations for both inter and intrarater reliability was found to be 0.85. Aspect of content validity was demonstrated using Krushkal-Wallis and it revealed age differentiation in the locomotor subtest (X2 (df=3) = 9.401, p < 0.05) but not for the ball skills subtest (X2 (df= 3) = 0.661, p > 0.05) and the total scale raw score (X2 (df=3) = 7.12, p=0.07). The Spearman’s rho statistics revealed acceptable value for subtest correlation with total scale raw score for the locomotor subtest (rs=0.85) and ball skill subtest (rs=0.70). In conclusion, the TGMD-3 demonstrated acceptable level of interrater and intrarater reliability and some content validity aspects. However, cautioned is needed in generalizing the results.
Construct validity of The Democritos Movement Screening Tool for preschool children: an examination of the known groups’ criterion
The aim of the present study was to examine the construct validity of the DEMOST-PRE©, using the criterion of the known groups. For that purpose, the performance of 18 children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), aged 48-72 months (M=66.6, SD=8.05 months) and 12 with intellectual disabilities (ID) (M=62, SD=9.42 months) on the nine items of the DEMOST-PRE© was compared to that of 18 typically developing peers (TD) (M=64.9, SD=8.74 months). According to the results, TD children demonstrated significantly higher scores than both the ASD and ID groups of children in all test items except the ‘overhead toss to a specific target’ (F2,45= 2,659, p =.081), while the performances of ASD and ID groups were similar. The current findings provide support for the construct validity of the DEMOST-PRE© indicating that it can serve as a valuable tool for preschool aged children.
The biopsychosocial treatment approach for chronic neck and back pain: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials.
Purpose of the present study was to determine whether biopsychosocial therapy is more effective than reference treatments for chronic back and neck pain. Literature searches were conducted according to the research strategy recommended by the Editorial Board of the Cochrane Back review Group, using MEDLINE-Biomed, EMBASE-Elsevier.7% of the 276 quality assessment were scored unclear. 21 studies (91%) had six or more positive scores which was the preset threshold for high quality. There is strong evidence that cognitive behavioral treatment of patients with CBNP has a positive effect on pain intensity, generic functional status and behavioral outcomes, when compared with booklets of healthy information, standardized exercise programs, active management, best practice advice and standardized active physical treatment.
Mother-child interaction at 9 months and child’s attention problems at school age
Poor-quality infancy parenting is a risk factor for externalizing problems in developmental periods. The aim of this longitudinal research was to evaluate association between the quality of mother-child interaction at 9 months and child’s attention disorders at school age. The participants were 27 mother-child dyads. At child 9 months, mother-infant interactions were video-recorded and codified by the Neuropsychomotor video analysis for parent and child interaction. At 6 years, Conners’ Parent Rating Scales-Revised was administered to the mothers to assess attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
The results indicated that the quality of early dyadic interaction was related to attention disorders in subsequent development. Maternal and child nonresponsive interactive style, particularly mother’s aggressive behaviors and infant passive behaviors, were risk factors for child’s attention problems at school age. It’s necessary to carry out early screening and intervention to prevent behavior problems in children.
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Study of auditory and visual perception in relation to spatial orientation in young children
The aim of this longitudinal study is to evaluate spatial orientation in children. The possible relationship between perception (visual and auditory) and spatial orientation will be examined. Other objectives are the investigation of developmental and gender differences concerning spatial orientation. Children were recruited for this study from the last year of nursery school, and were monitored for 7 years. Each year the Piaget test for spatial orientation, the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills for visual perception and the Stambak Rhythm test for auditory perception were administrated. The Piaget test was fairly correlated with the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills and with the Stambak Rhythm test, which indicates that visual and auditory perception are related to spatial orientation. Secondly, a positive evolution of spatial orientation in function of age was found, mainly in the first grades of elementary school. No significant gender differences concerning spatial orientation were noted.
