Validation of the Digiwalker™ Pedometer for Measuring Physical Activity in Young Children
in Pediatric Exercise ScienceClick name to view affiliation
Activity measurement using a uniaxial pedometer was validated against behavioral observation using the Children’s Activity Rating Scale (CARS) in 30 three- to four-year-old children in a nursery school setting. Correlations were calculated for individual children, whereas the relationship for the total group was investigated using multilevel linear regression. The mean counts for boys and girls for the Digiwalker™ were 66.8 (± 64.0) and 47.4 (± 61.3; p < .01) steps per 3 minutes, respectively, whereas the mean CARS scores for boys and girls were 1.8 (± 0.6) and 1.6 (± 0.6; p < .01), respectively. Within-child correlations for CARS versus Digiwalker counts ranged from 0.64 to 0.95 with a median value of 0.86, whereas the multilevel analysis provided strong evidence of a relationship between CARS and Digiwalker (all p < .001). Data from the current study show that gender differences in physical levels exist in very young children and support the utility of the Digiwalker pedometer for assessing physical activity in this age group.
McKee is with the Department of Physical Education, Stranmillis University College, Belfast, Northern Ireland; Boreham and Murphy are with the School of Applied Medical Sciences and Sports Studies, University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland; Nevill is with the Research Institute for Health Care Sciences, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, England.
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