Using process- and product-oriented measures to evaluate changes in motor skills across an intervention

Area of Science:

• Child Development
• Motor Learning
• Pediatric Physical Therapy

Background:

• Assessing fundamental motor skills (FMS) in preschoolers is crucial for development.
• Process-oriented measures focus on movement quality, while product-oriented measures assess outcome accuracy.
• Understanding how these measures align is vital for evaluating intervention effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare process- and product-oriented measures in evaluating changes in preschoolers' motor skills post-intervention.
• To examine the correlation between process- and product-oriented motor skill assessments before and after an intervention.

Main Methods:

• Sixty-five preschoolers (mean age 4.6 years) participated in a high-autonomy motor skill intervention.
• Both process- and product-oriented measures were administered for six FMS (run, hop, jump, catch, throw, kick) pre- and post-intervention.
• Analyses included aggregate (total, locomotor, ball) and individual skill assessments.

Main Results:

• Children showed significant improvements in process-oriented skills (p<0.01) after the intervention.
• Improvements were observed in product-oriented hop, throw, and kick skills (p<0.001).
• Correlations between process and product measures ranged from r_s = 0.28-0.72 at pretest and r_s = 0.39-0.68 at posttest.

Conclusions:

• Process- and product-oriented measures capture different facets of preschoolers' motor competence.
• These measures do not yield equivalent evaluations of intervention efficacy in motor skill development.
• Distinct assessment approaches are necessary for a comprehensive understanding of motor skill changes.