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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Frances Hillier-Brown
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2023, BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature. Background: Movement behaviours (physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep) are important for pre-school children’s health and development. Currently, no tools with appropriate content validity exist that concurrently capture these movement behaviours in young children. The aim of this study was to co-design and assess the content validity of a novel tool to concurrently measure movement behaviours in pre-school aged children (aged 3–4 years). Methods: We followed four distinct steps to develop and assess the content validity of Movement Measurement in the Early Years (MoveMEY): (1) We conducted an extensive literature search, to identify pre-existing proxy measurement tools (questionnaires and diaries) to inform the design of a novel tool, which aimed to effectively capture movement behaviour guidelines of pre-school aged children. (2) We facilitated focus group discussions with parents and carers of pre-school aged children (n = 11) and (3) a qualitative survey with free text responses was completed by topic relevant researchers (n = 6), to co-design the measurement tool. (4) We assessed the content validity of the developed tool, MoveMEY, through interviews with parents of pre-school aged children (n = 12) following piloting of the tool. Results: We developed an initial version of MoveMEY based on the format of an existing questionnaire and by mapping the content of questions to the guidelines. Co-design of MoveMEY resulted in changes to the format (e.g. short questionnaire to a seven-day diary) and content (e.g. inclusion of ‘general information’ questions on illness, disabilities and sleep disturbances; question on screen time before bed). Content validity assessment demonstrated that the items of MoveMEY were relevant and comprehensive for the assessment of children’s movement behaviours. MoveMEY was felt to be comprehensible, however, parental suggestions were implemented to finalise and improve MoveMEY (e.g. adding examples to questions aiming to detect moderate to vigorous physical activity). Conclusion: MoveMEY is the first co-designed measurement tool that has relevance for assessing the movement behaviour guidelines of pre-school aged children. Parent/carer and topic relevant researcher involvement throughout the development process resulted in a seven-day daily reported activity diary that is comprehensive of children’s movement behaviours and comprehensible to parents and carers.
Author(s): Phillips SM, Summerbell C, Hesketh KR, Saxena S, Hillier-Brown FC
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
Year: 2023
Volume: 20
Issue: 1
Online publication date: 04/08/2023
Acceptance date: 27/06/2023
Date deposited: 13/09/2023
ISSN (electronic): 1479-5868
Publisher: BioMed Central Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-023-01486-2
DOI: 10.1186/s12966-023-01486-2
PubMed id: 37542295
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