Age band 1 of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition: exploring its usefulness in mainland China.
MABC-2 age band 1 is reliable for Chinese preschoolers once you tweak a few items.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Hua et al. (2013) checked if the MABC-2 age band 1 works well in mainland China.
They gave the test to a large group of preschoolers. They looked at reliability and validity.
What they found
The test showed fair reliability and validity. A few items need small changes for Chinese kids.
Overall, the tool is sound for spotting motor delays in this group.
How this fits with other research
Ellinoudis et al. (2011) ran a near-identical study in Greece and got the same positive result. The two papers together say the MABC-2 age band 1 is solid across cultures.
Holm et al. (2013) looked at age band 2 in the same year and found high measurement error. That seems to clash with Jing’s good news, but the difference is age: band 1 holds up in preschoolers while band 2 wobbles in older kids.
Bakke et al. (2017) went further and adapted the MABC-2 for children with low vision. They show the test family can stretch to new populations when you tweak the format.
Why it matters
If you screen motor skills in Chinese preschoolers, you can trust the MABC-2 age band 1 after you adjust a few items. Pair it with the Greek data to show parents and schools the tool is backed by two cultures. Watch out when kids move to age band 2—use a bigger change score before you say a child has improved.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The aim of this paper was to examine the validity and reliability of age band 1 of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition (MABC-2) in preparation for its standardization in mainland China. Interrater and test-retest reliability of the MABC-2 was estimated using Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Cronbach's alpha for each item and Item-total correlation were used to determine internal consistency. The content validity was determined by the Item-level content validity index (I-CVI). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the factorial validity of the MABC-2 test. The correlation coefficients between the MABC-2 and the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-2 (PDMS-2) were used to assess the criteria-related validity. The Cronbach's alpha values of all eight items together were moderate but acceptable. The correlation coefficients between each test item and the total score were moderate except for two items. The ICC of interrater and test-retest reliability for each test items was good. The I-CVI of each item was excellent (each above 0.78). The result of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the goodness-of-fit indices of the adjusted model were good (each above 0.9), indicating a satisfactory fit of the data to the model. The total score on MABC-2 and PDMS-2 was correlated well (r=0.631). It is concluded that the reliability and validity of age band 1 of MABC-2 were fair in this study based on a large sample. However, there was a need to adjust part of items to improve the test's psychometric properties when it is used in Chinese children.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2013 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2012.10.012