Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy Second Edition: a streamlined assessment of the capacity for physical activity among children 8 to 12 years of age.

BACKGROUND: The Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy (CAPL) assesses the capacity of children to lead a physically active lifestyle. It is comprised of a battery of standardized assessment protocols that reflect the Canadian consensus definition of physical literacy. The Royal Bank of Canada Learn to Play - Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy study implemented the CAPL with 10,034 Canadian children (50.1% female), 8 to 12 years of age. Feedback during data collection, necessary changes identified by the coordinating centre, and recent data analyses suggested that a streamlined, second edition of the CAPL was required. The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods used to develop the CAPL second edition (CAPL-2). METHODS: The larger dataset created through the RBC-Learn to Play CAPL study enabled the re-examination of the CAPL model through factor analyses specific to Canadian children 8 to 12 years of age from across Canada. This comprehensive database was also used to examine the CAPL protocols for redundancy or variables that did not contribute significantly to the overall assessment. Removing redundancy had been identified as a priority in order to reduce the high examiner and participant burden. The "lessons learned" from such a large national surveillance project were reviewed for additional information regarding the changes that would be required to optimize the assessment of children's physical literacy. In addition, administrative changes, improvements, and corrections were identified as necessary to improve the quality and accuracy of the CAPL manual and training materials. RESULTS: For each domain of the CAPL, recommended changes based on the factor analyses, qualitative feedback and theoretical considerations significantly reduced the number of protocols. Specific protocol combinations were then evaluated for model fit within the overarching concept of physical literacy. The CAPL-2 continues to reflect the four components of the Canadian consensus definition of physical literacy: Motivation and Confidence, Physical Competence, Knowledge and Understanding, and engagement in Physical Activity Behaviour. The CAPL-2 is comprised of three Physical Competence protocols (plank, Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run [PACER], Canadian Agility and Movement Skill Assessment [CAMSA]), two Daily Behaviour protocol (pedometer steps, self-reported physical activity), and a 22-item questionnaire assessing the physical literacy domains of Motivation and Confidence, and Knowledge and Understanding. Detailed information about the CAPL-2 is available online ( www.capl-eclp.ca ). CONCLUSIONS: The CAPL-2 dramatically reduces examiner and participant burden (three Physical Competence protocols, two Daily Behaviour protocols, and a 22-response questionnaire; versus eight Physical Competence protocols, three Daily Behaviour protocols and a 72-response questionnaire for the original CAPL), while continuing to be a comprehensive assessment of all aspects of children's physical literacy using the Canadian consensus definition of this term. Like the original, the CAPL-2 continues to offer maximum flexibility to practitioners, who can choose to complete the entire CAPL-2 assessment, only one or more domains, or select individual protocols. Regardless of the assessment selected, scores are available to interpret the performance of each child relative to Canadian children of the same age and sex. All of the protocols included in the CAPL-2 have published reports of validity and reliability for this age group (8 to 12 years). The detailed manual for CAPL-2 administration, along with training materials and other resources, are available free of charge on the CAPL-2 website ( www.capl-eclp.ca ). All CAPL-2 materials and resources, including the website, are available in both English and French.

Associations between domains of physical literacy by weight status in 8- to 12-year-old Canadian children.

BACKGROUND: The Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy (CAPL) is divided into four domains (Physical Competence, Daily Behaviour, Motivation and Confidence, and Knowledge and Understanding) and provides a robust and comprehensive assessment of physical literacy. As weight status is known to influence health-related behaviours such as physical fitness and activity, it is important to investigate whether the associations between the domains of physical literacy vary among children of different weight status. The aim of this study was to determine the associations among the four domains of physical literacy stratified by weight status. METHODS: Canadian children aged 8 to 12 years (n = 8343, 63.6% healthy-weight) completed the CAPL. Differences in domain scores and overall physical literacy score by weight status (children of healthy weight versus children with overweight/obese) were assessed using MANOVA (multivariate analysis of variance). Partial correlations between the four domains were calculated, adjusting for gender and age, and correlation coefficients of both weight status groups were compared using the Steiger test. RESULTS: For all four domains as well as overall physical literacy, healthy-weight children had higher scores than their overweight/obese peers (Cohen's d ranged from 0.05 to 0.44). Weak to moderate correlations were found between all of the domains for both groups. Correlation coefficients for Physical Competence and Daily Behaviour as well as for Physical Competence and Knowledge and Understanding were generally stronger in the healthy-weight children (r = 0.29 and 0.22, respectively) compared with the overweight/obese children (r = 0.23 and 0.17, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: All of the domains of the CAPL correlate positively with each other regardless of weight status, with a trend for these correlation coefficients to be slightly stronger in the healthy-weight children. The overall weak to moderate correlations between the domains in both groups suggest that the CAPL domains are not measuring the same constructs, thus providing support for CAPL's psychometric architecture in both healthy-weight and overweight/obese children.