Quality of instruments measuring activity and participation in children with developmental coordination disorder: A...

To identify instruments assessing the activity and participation of children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and analyze the quality and current level of evidence regarding their measurement properties.

A comprehensive search was conducted in January 2023 on PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, Chinese Biomedical Databases, Wanfang and China National Knowledge Infrastructure to identify psychometric studies of instruments used to assess activity and participation in children with DCD. The selection process involved 2 independent reviewers who assessed the quality and level of evidence for each instrument using the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist.

The search yielded 4221 references, of which 96 studies with 28 standardized clinical tests or questionnaires were included. According to the COSMIN criteria, most instruments had sufficient (68 %) or indeterminate (20 %) ratings in terms of their measurement properties. The quality of evidence was mainly high (59 %) or moderate (12 %), as per the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation. The Movement Assessment Battery-second Edition was recommended for assessing motor activities (criterion A) based on moderate- to high-quality evidence showing satisfactory ratings for most measurement properties. The Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire-Revised and its Little extension were recommended to provide information on daily activity limitations (criterion B) supported by sufficient measurement properties with moderate- to high-quality evidence. The standardized clinical tests DCDDaily, Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder, Performance Fitness Battery, and the DCDDaily-Questionnaire and Motor Observation Questionnaire for Teachers received acceptable ratings and evidence but had limitations requiring further investigation. More evidence was required for the remaining standardized tests and questionnaires.

Various assessment scales have been identified and a clinical decision map has been developed based on their measurement properties and quality of evidence. The clinical decision map provides easily understandable information that helps in selecting evidence-based instruments for research and clinical practice in children with DCD.

The protocol of this review was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42022327251).