Developing a Scale for Measuring the Fundamental Movement Skills of Preschool Children in China

Yong Chen; Ying Gu; Ying Tian; Hyunshik Kim; Jiameng Ma; Xuefeng Jia; Lianlian Qin

doi:10.3390/ijerph192114257

Developing a Scale for Measuring the Fundamental Movement Skills of Preschool Children in China

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Nov 1;19(21):14257. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192114257.

Authors

Yong Chen¹, Ying Gu², Ying Tian², Hyunshik Kim³, Jiameng Ma³, Xuefeng Jia⁴, Lianlian Qin⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Education, Huaiyin Normal University, Huai'an 223300, China.
² College of Sports Science, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang 110034, China.
³ Faculty of Sports Science, Sendai University, Shibata 9891693, Japan.
⁴ School of Physical Education, Shenyang Sports University, Shenyang 110102, China.
⁵ Spring Kindergarten, Shenbei New District, Shenyang 110034, China.

Abstract

Children aged 3-6 years (preschool children hereafter) are in a critical and sensitive period of developing fundamental movement skills (FMS). While appropriate measurement tools can accurately evaluate their FMS development, such a scale is lacking in China. In this study, a suitable scale for measuring the FMS of preschool children in China was developed by combining process- and results-oriented evaluation methods. The subjects of this cross-sectional study included 21 experts and 358 preschool children (188 boys and 170 girls). Based on a literature review, items suitable for measuring the FMS of preschool children in China were selected, and the final measurement scale includes 12 items in three dimensions: physical locomotion skills, object control skills, and physical stability skills. After a battery of tests to assess its suitability, including inter-rater reliability, test/retest reliability, homogeneity, and construct validity, we find that the proposed measurement scale has good reliability, validity, and sensitivity. This scale reflects the development level of the FMS of preschool children in China and can be used to monitor the FMS of this population in the future.

Keywords: fundamental movement skills; measurement tool; preschool children.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Child, Preschool
China
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Locomotion*
Male
Motor Skills*
Reproducibility of Results

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Youth Fund Project for the Humanities and Social Sciences, a funding project of the Ministry of Education of China (Grant Number: 20yjc890007) “Research and development of evaluation index for fundamental movement skills of preschool children (3–6 years old), and supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Number: JP 21K11555) and the International Joint Research Project in Sendai University (Grant Number: 2018-0025).