Estimation of engagement in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity from direct observation: a proposal for school physical education

This study aimed to test an observational momentary time sampling tool to estimate in class moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), in terms of validity, reliability and agreement between observational momentary time sampling and accelerometry, and to develop a regression equation to estimate MVPA from observational momentary time sampling. The sample comprised 78 pupils (38 girls), mean age 14.0 ± 1.1 years. Measurements were taken in three similar Physical Education classes, on three different days. To monitor MVPA, we applied the observational momen tary time sampling method. Students wore an ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer. Reliabilities were determined by the intraclass correlations, the agreement between methods was analyzed using the Bland–Altman method, and a multiple regression analysis was performed to estimate the equation. The observational momentary time sampling showed good reliability across time (0.59 < r < 0.72, p < 0.001). It was significantly correlated with accelerometry (r = 0.51, p < 0.001). The MVPA assessed via accelerometer could be predicted from the following equation: Y = 44.3 + 0.47·(MVPA observa tional momentary time sampling method) + 8.0·(sex; with 0 = girls and 1 = boys). This observational momentary time sampling method is a stable and reliable tool to estimate MVPA. A regression equation using the score of observational momentary time sampling and sex can be used to better estimate the real MVPA.

Keywords

Physical education Invasion games Physical activity Observation tool . Faculdade de Ciências Sociais

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.13/3662

Citation

Gouveia, É. R., Gouveia, B. R., Marques, A., Lopes, H., Rodrigues, A., Quintal, T., ... & Ihle, A. (2021). Estimation of engagement in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity from direct observation: a proposal for school physical education. Children, 8(2), 67. https://doi.org/10.3390/children8020067