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Developing a Clinical Protocol for Habitual Physical Activity Monitoring in Youth With Cerebral Palsy
Kristen Nicholson1, Aaron Weaver, Ameeka George
1Nemours/Alfred I duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, Delaware.
Purpose:
The StepWatch (SW) has been used to monitor physical activity (PA) in youth with cerebral palsy; however, there is no standard collection protocol. The goal was to develop such a protocol.
Methods:
Data were examined from patients who wore the SW for 8 to 14 days. The Spearman-Brown prediction formula determined the minimum number of days for reliable PA. Weekdays were compared to weekends and 10- and 60-second collection intervals were examined.
Results:
The PA data were collected from 98 youth with cerebral palsy. Results showed 3 days would provide reliable representation of PA, participants took significantly more steps during school days compared with weekends, and there were no differences between collection intervals.
Conclusions:
We recommend setting the SW for 7 days at 10-second collection rate. Data should be analyzed if at least 3 days of data are present. Weekdays and weekend days should be noted, and both included when possible.
