Anthropometric, physical activity, and psychological characteristics of Korean adults with and without developmental coordination disorder (DCD).

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), also known as Dyspraxia, is characterized by movement difficulties in individuals without discernible neurological disorders or identifiable medical conditions. Previous studies from various countries have highlighted disparities in anthropometric, physical activity, and psychological characteristics between children diagnosed with DCD and their typically developing (TD) peers. These differences are influenced by sociocultural norms and geographical locations. However, little attention has been given to scrutinizing analogous differences in adult populations, particularly within Republic of Korea. This study aims to address this knowledge gap by employing a battery of questionnaires to assess anthropometric, physical activity, and psychological traits in a cohort of 377 Korean adults, encompassing those with DCD (n = 54) alongside TD counterparts (n = 323). It was hypothesized that Korean adults with DCD would exhibit higher body mass index and lower ratings in physical activity and psychological characteristics than TD, consistent with the previous studies performed in other countries on children. The results showed no statistically significant differences between the DCD and TD groups in anthropometric characteristics such as weight (kg), height (cm), and body mass index. The prevalence of walking and biking for daily commuting in daily routines within Korean society might have contributed to the mitigation of anthropometric among individuals with/without DCD. Statistically significant differences were found in physical activity levels at work and recreational settings, as shown in physical activity scores and duration. The DCD group also displayed lower scores across several psychological characteristics, including exercise adherence, intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, physical self-concept, exercise expectations, and intrinsic regulation. These findings underscore the necessity of incorporating sociocultural dynamics when investigating anthropometric, physical activity, and psychological characteristics in adults with DCD. Their perceived difficulties in fine motor skills were also significantly poor than TD. Future research studies are warranted to elucidate the underlying mechanisms driving the observed patterns in this study, thus contributing to a more nuanced comprehension of how DCD manifests within specific sociocultural contexts.

Development of the Korean Global Physical Activity Questionnaire: reliability and validity study.

The goal of this study was to develop a Korean version of the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (K-GPAQ) and to examine its reliability and validity. The English version of the GPAQ was translated to the Korean language (K-GPAQ) via forward-backward translation. Reliability of the K-GPAQ was evaluated using a one-week interval test-retest method with 115 individuals. Criterion-related validity of the K-GPAQ was examined with 199 participants using accelerometers. Cohen's kappa and Spearman's correlation coefficients were used to measure test-retest reliability and validity, respectively. A Bland-Altman analysis was used to assess agreement between physical activity (PA) levels measured via K-GPAQ and the accelerometer. Coefficients for the reliability of the K-GPAQ showed moderate agreement for recreational PA and slight agreement for work-related PA (Cohen's kappa: 0.60-0.67 for recreational PA and 0.30-0.38 for work-related PA and Spearman's rho: 0.27-0.47 for work-related PA and 0.53-0.70 for recreational PA). Criterion validity of the total amount of PA, as measured by the K-GPAQ and the accelerometer, showed a weak but significant correlation (r = 0.34, p < 0.01). The K-GPAQ is a reliable and valid questionnaire to measure PA although K-GPAQ overestimated PA levels.

Discourse on medicine: meditative and calculative approaches to ethics from an international perspective.

Heidegger's two modes of thinking, calculative and meditative, were used as the thematic basis for this qualitative study of physicians from seven countries (Canada, China, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, & Thailand). Focus groups were conducted in each country with 69 physicians who cared for the elderly. Results suggest that physicians perceived ethical issues primarily through the lens of calculative thinking (76%) with emphasis on economic concerns. Meditative responses represented 24% of the statements and were mostly generated by Canadian physicians whose patients typically were not faced with economic barriers to treatment due to Canada's universal health care system.

Reliability and validity of the test of gross motor development-II in Korean preschool children: applying AHP.

The Test of Gross Motor Development-II (TGMD-II) is a frequently used assessment tool for measuring motor ability. The purpose of this study is to investigate the reliability and validity of TGMD-II's weighting scores (by comparing pre-weighted TGMD-II scores with post ones) as well as examine applicability of the TGMD-II on Korean preschool children. A total of 121 Korean children (three kindergartens) participated in this study. There were 65 preschoolers who were 5-years-old (37 boys and 28 girls) and 56 preschoolers who were 6-years-old (34 boys and 22 girls). For internal consistency, reliability, and construct validity, only one researcher evaluated all of the children using the TGMD-II in the following areas: running; galloping; sliding; hopping; leaping; horizontal jumping; overhand throwing; underhand rolling; striking a stationary ball; stationary dribbling; kicking; and catching. For concurrent validity, the evaluator measured physical fitness (strength, flexibility, power, agility, endurance, and balance). The key findings were as follows: first, the reliability coefficient and the validity coefficient between pre-weighted and post-weighted TGMD-II scores were quite similar. Second, the research showed adequate reliability and validity of the TGMD-II for Korean preschool children. The TGMD-II is a proper instrument to test Korean children's motor development. Yet, applying relative weighting on the TGMD-II should be a point of consideration.

Convergent validity of the international physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ): meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to use a meta-analytic approach to examine the convergent validity of the international physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ). DESIGN: Systematic review by meta-analysis. SETTING: The relevant studies were surveyed from five electronic databases. Primary outcomes of interest were the product-moment correlation coefficients between IPAQ and other instruments. Five separate meta-analyses were performed for each physical activity (PA) category of IPAQ: walking, moderate PA (MPA), total moderate PA (TMPA), vigorous PA (VPA) and total PA (TPA). The corrected mean effect size (ESρ) unaffected by statistical artefacts (i.e., sampling error and reliability) was calculated for each PA category. Selected moderator variables were length of IPAQ (i.e., short and long form), reference period (i.e., last 7 d and usual week), mode of administration (i.e., interviewer and self-reported), language (i.e., English and translated) and instruments (i.e., accelerometer, pedometer and subjective measure). SUBJECTS: A total of 152 ESρ across five PA categories were retrieved from twenty-one studies. RESULTS: The results showed small- to medium-sized ESρ (0.27-0.49). The highest value was observed in VPA while the lowest value was found in MPA. The ESρ were differentiated by some of the moderator variables across PA categories. CONCLUSIONS: The study shows the overall convergent validity of IPAQ within each PA category. Some differences in degree of convergent validity across PA categories and moderator variables imply that different research conditions should be taken into account prior to deciding on use of the appropriate type of IPAQ.

Examining rater effects of the TGMD-2 on children with intellectual disability.

The purpose of this study was to investigate rater effects on the TGMD-2 when it applied to children with intellectual disability. A total of 22 children with intellectual disabilities participated in this study. Children's performances in each of 12 subtests of the TGMD-2 were recorded via video and scored by three adapted physical activity specialists who have expertise in the TGMD-2. Two advanced measurement theories, Generalizability-theory (G-theory) and many-facet Rasch model (MFRM), were applied in data analyses. There were relatively large variances attributed to rater effects on the scores of the TGMD-2 awarded to children with intellectual disabilities. The severity of each rater significantly differed across all subtests of the TGMD-2. There was a set of biased ratings interacted with measurement conditions of the TGMD-2.

Physical activity and body mass index and their associations with the development of type 2 diabetes in korean men.

The authors examined the independent and combined associations of physical activity and obesity with incident type 2 diabetes among 675,496 Korean men from the database of the National Health Insurance Corporation. During an average follow-up of 7.5 years (1996-2005), 52,995 men developed type 2 diabetes. Men with overweight, obese I, and obese II classifications had 1.47, 2.05, and 3.69 times higher risk of type 2 diabetes, respectively, compared with normal weight men, and men with low, medium, and high activity had 5%, 10%, and 9% lower risk of type 2 diabetes, respectively, compared with inactive men after adjustment for confounders and physical activity or body mass index for each other. Overweight and obesity were detrimental within all activity categories, and meeting the activity recommendations (medium and high activity) was beneficial at all body mass index levels. Meeting the activity recommendations appeared to attenuate some negative effects of overweight or obesity, and the increased risk of type 2 diabetes due to inactivity was lower in normal weight men. Both preventing overweight or obesity and increasing physical activity are important to reduce the global epidemic of type 2 diabetes, regardless of body weight and activity levels.

The Illness/Injury Sensitivity Index: an examination of construct validity.

The 11-item Illness/Injury Sensitivity Index [ISI; Taylor, 1993: J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 24:289-299] measures fears of injury and illness and has the potential to delineate some mechanisms underlying anxiety-associated chronic health conditions. In a principal components analysis in 2005, Carleton et al. [2005a: J Psychopathol Behav Assess 27:235-241] indicated that a two-factor solution (Fear of Injury and Fear of Illness) best explained the structure of the ISI. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the structural and construct validity of the ISI. Results supported a two-factor solution after removal of two overinclusive items. Although the measure demonstrated good factorial validity, convergent and discriminant validity require further evaluation. In addition, a substantial correlation with fear of pain suggests a shift in our perspective on what constitutes a fundamental fear. Future research implications are discussed.

An introduction to latent growth models: analysis of repeated measures physical performance data.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the Latent Growth Model (LGM) to researchers in exercise and sport science. Although the LGM has several merits over traditional analysis techniques in analyzing change and was first introduced almost 20 years ago, it is still underused in exercise and sport science research. This statistical model can be applied to any repeated measures data, but it is most useful when one has an a priori hypothesis about the patterns of change. The strengths of latent growth modeling include: (a) both individual and group levels of change are estimated, (b) either a linear or a curvilinear trajectory can represent individual change, (c) occasions of measurement need not be equally spaced, (d) the statistical model can account for measurement errors, (e) the model can easily include multiple predictors or correlates of change, and (f) as in general structural equation models, statistical models are flexible and allow one to extend the basic idea in several ways, such as comparing changes between groups and examining the change in multivariate latentfactors. In this paper, the basics and an extension of latent growth modeling are explained, and examples with longitudinal physical performance data are presented, along with detailed analysis procedures and considerations.