Physical activity in relation to motor performance, exercise capacity, sports participation, parental perceptions, and overprotection in school aged children with a critical congenital heart defect.

OBJECTIVE: To depict objectively measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), motor performance (MP), cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), organized sports participation, parental perceptions of vulnerability and parenting style in children with a Critical Congenital Heart Disease (CCHD), and to explore whether these factors are associated with MVPA. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective observational cohort study in 62 7-10 years old children with a CCHD. RESULTS: On average, children with CCHD spent 64 min on MVPA per day (accelerometry), 61 % met the international WHO physical activity guideline. Only 12 % had >60 min of MVPA daily. Eighteen percent had a motor delay (movement-assessment-battery-for children-II) and 38 % showed a below average CRF (cardiopulmonary exercise test using the Godfrey ramp protocol). Seventy-seven percent participated in organized sports activities at least once a week. Twenty-one percent of the parents are classified as overprotective (parent protection scale) and 7.3 % consider their child as being vulnerable (child vulnerability scale). A significant positive association was found between MVPA and MP (rs = 0.359), CRF(V̇O2peak/ml/kg: rs = 0.472 and Wpeak/kg: rs = 0.396) and sports participation (rs = 0.286). Children who were perceived as vulnerable by their parents showed a significantly lower MVPA (rs = -0.302). No significant associations were found between mean MVPA and parental overprotection. CONCLUSION: Even though the majority of school aged children with a CCHD is sufficiently active, counseling parents regarding the importance of sufficient MVPA and sports participation, especially in parents who consider their child being vulnerable, could be useful. Since motor delays can be detected at an early age, motor development could be an important target to improve exercise capacity and sports participation to prevent inactivity in children with a CCHD.

Organized Sports Activities Are Safe for Children With Sickle Cell Disease: A Pilot Intervention Study.

Historically, children with sickle cell disease (SCD) are advised to refrain from sports activities, based on the assumption that physical exercise can trigger vaso-occlusive episodes. This pilot intervention study examined the safety (ie, no vaso-occlusive episodes) of a 10-week organized sports program for children with SCD. Eight children with SCD (5 boys/3 girls), aged 7 to 12 years old, received 10 training sessions (each 90 min) once a week. Training sessions were performed by a professional soccer club under the supervision of a medical team from the Wilhelmina Children's Hospital. During the study period, one child experienced a vaso-occlusive crisis, which could not be directly related to the organized sports program. None of the other children experienced vaso-occlusive episodes. The results of this study indicate that children with SCD can participate safely in moderate-intensity organized sports activities when personalized medical background and practical training information is shared with the trainer beforehand. All children continued their sports participation after the study period.

Is Measuring Physical Literacy in School-Aged Children With Cystic Fibrosis or Congenital Heart Disease Needed?

PURPOSE: To explore the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and other physical literacy domains in children with cystic fibrosis (CF) or congenital heart disease (CHD). METHODS: In 28 children with CF (n = 10) or CHD (n = 18), aged 7 to 11 years, cardiorespiratory fitness and the following physical literacy domains were measured: ( a ) physical competence, ( b ) motivation and confidence, ( c ) knowledge and understanding, and ( d ) daily behavior (ie, self-perceived moderate-to-vigorous physical activity [MVPA]). RESULTS: Cardiorespiratory fitness was significantly associated with motivation and confidence and self-perceived MVPA. There were no other significant associations. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with self-perceived MVPA, motivation, and confidence in children with CF or CHD.

Self-perceptions in children with probable developmental coordination disorder with and without overweight.

BACKGROUND: Children with probable developmental coordination disorder (pDCD) experience motor problems that negatively influence their self-perceptions and increase the risk to develop overweight due to physical inactivity. Whether overweight in children with pDCD has an additional impact on their self-perceptions is unclear. Insight in this impact would provide vital information for diagnostics and interventions to enhance physical activity in children with pDCD and overweight. AIMS: Investigate differences in self-perceptions between children with pDCD and overweight (pDCD-O), children with pDCD without overweight (pDCD-NO), and typically developing children (TD). METHODS AND PROCEDURES: A total of 366 children (188 boys/178 girls), aged between 7 and 13 years, participated in this study. Thirteen children were categorized as pDCD-O, 51 children as pDCD-NO, and 302 children as TD. Self-perceptions were assessed with the Self-Perception Profile for Children. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Children with pDCD-O perceived themselves lower in social acceptance than children with pDCD-NO and TD children. Children with pDCD-NO perceived themselves lower in athletic competence than TD children, but not than children with pDCD-O. No differences were found for perceived physical appearance and global self-esteem. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Overweight has an additional negative impact on perceived social acceptance in children with pDCD.

The effect of an integrated perceived competence and motor intervention in children with developmental coordination disorder.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Children with DCD have lower self-perceptions and are less physically active than typically developing children. The aim of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate whether an integrated perceived competence and motor intervention affects DCD children's motor performance, self-perceptions, and physical activity compared with a motor intervention only. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: The intervention group consisted of 20 children and the care-as-usual group consisted of 11 children, all aged 7-10 years. The perceived competence component of the intervention focused primarily on providing positive, specific, and progress feedback to enhance self-perceptions. We assessed children at baseline, after 12 treatment sessions (trial end-point), and at 3-month follow-up. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Mixed linear models revealed no differences between the intervention and the care-as-usual group on any of the outcome measures. Children improved their motor performance and increased their perceived athletic competence, global self-esteem, and perceived motor competence after 12 treatment sessions. This improvement was maintained at 3-month follow-up. Motor task values and physical activity remained unchanged for all children. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: A perceived competence and motor intervention is as effective as care-as-usual in children with DCD. Future research should focus on improving physical activity in children with DCD. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: This is the first study that has investigated the effect of an integrated perceived competence and motor intervention (intervention group) on motor performance, self-perceptions, and physical activity compared with a motor intervention (care-as-usual group) in children with DCD. We made the perceived competence component explicit by providing positive, specific, and progress feedback to enhance children's self-perceptions. Also, this is one of the first studies that has investigated the effect after both 12 treatment sessions (trial end-point) and after 3 months of no intervention (3-month follow-up). We found no differences between the intervention and the care-as-usual group, but children improved their motor performance and increased (most) of their self-perceptions after 12 treatment sessions, while physical activity remained the same. The improvement was still present at the 3-month follow-up. We also benchmarked our results about self-perceptions and physical activity to a group of typically developing children. Self-perceptions in children with DCD had improved to the level of typically developing children after 12 treatment sessions, but their physical activity levels remained significantly lower. This result was the same at the 3-month follow-up, except for perceived athletic competence, which was lower in children with DCD at the 3-month follow-up. In accordance with previous intervention studies that have investigated children with DCD, we found large intra-group variability in the change in motor performance and self-perceptions in children with DCD. We argue that we need to better understand why some children with DCD improve and others do not after a motor intervention.

The change in perceived motor competence and motor task values during elementary school: A longitudinal cohort study.

Participation in motor activities is essential for social interaction and life satisfaction in children. Self-perceptions and task values have a central position in why children do or do not participate in (motor) activities. Investigating developmental changes in motor self-perceptions and motor task values in elementary school children would provide vital information about their participation in motor activities. We therefore examined the change in, and associations between, self-perceptions and task values of fine motor competence, ball competence, and athletic competence in 292 children from kindergarten to grade 4. We also investigated differences between boys and girls, and between children with motor problems and typically developing children. Results indicated that self-perceptions and task values are domain specific and differ between boys and girls, but not between children with motor problems and typically developing children. Self-perceptions were not associated with task values. Educators should address specific self-perceptions to enhance participation into the corresponding motor activities in children between kindergarten and grade 4, and differences in self-perceptions and task values between boys and girls should be taken into account.

Perceived athletic competence and physical activity in children with developmental coordination disorder who are clinically referred, and control children.

The relationship between perceived athletic competence (PAC) and physical activity (PA) in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is still unclear. This study investigated differences in PAC and PA between, and within, a group of children with DCD that were clinically referred (n = 31) and a group of control children (n = 38), aged 7-12 years. All children were categorized in four groups: (1) children with DCD/low PAC, (2) children with DCD/normal to high PAC, (3) control children/low PAC, and (4) control children/normal to high PAC. PAC was assessed with the Self-Perception Profile for Children, and PA was assessed with the Modifiable Activity Questionnaire. Children with DCD participated less in unorganized PA, but not in organized PA, compared with control children. Normal to high PAC was found in more than half of the children (64.5%) with DCD. Children with DCD/low PAC and children with DCD/normal to high PAC participated significantly less in unorganized physical activity compared with control children/normal to high PAC, but not compared with control children/low PAC. The results indicate that there are large individual differences in PAC in children with DCD.