Perceived Activity Competence and Participation in Everyday Activities of Children With and Without...

To compare children with and without neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) in self-rated activity competence, participation, and the associations between activity competence and participation.

This cross-sectional study included 126 children with NDD and 115 without NDD, aged 6-12 years, who completed interviews with the Perceived Efficacy and Goal Setting System (PEGS) and Picture My Participation (PmP). Independent t-tests or Mann-Whitney U tests examined group differences in the PEGS and PmP scores. Correlation and regression analyses examined associations between the PEGS and PmP scores.

Children with NDD perceived lower physical competence than children without NDD, particularly in self-care (d = 0.80) and leisure (d = 0.66). The two groups did not differ in participation. Both groups demonstrated significant correlations between perceived activity competence and attendance (r = 0.21-0.49) and involvement (r = 0.19-0.53); significantly lower correlations were observed in children with NDD than those without (d = 0.22-0.28). Perceived activity competence significantly influenced attendance (β = 0.365) and involvement (β = 0.391).

Children with NDD perceived less competency than peers without NDD. Children's perceived activity competence is correlated bi-directionally with perceived participation. Clinicians can support competence to promote participation, or by supporting participation, the competence can be enhanced.