Effect of a 6-Month Chronic Disease Management Program on the Physical Literacy of Children With Congenital Heart...

Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) have sequelae related to their heart defect that can affect their lifelong health. Physical literacy development is one way to improve their health because it provides them the competence and confidence to engage in physical activity; however, it may be impaired in children with CHD. Therefore, we sought to determine the effect of a 6-month chronic disease management program on physical literacy development of children with CHD.

Thirteen children with CHD participated in the program and were age and sex matched to 12 typically developing peers (TDPs) who served as the control population. All participants had their motor competence (PLAYfun), confidence (PLAYself), and parental perception of the child's physical literacy (PLAYparent) measured before and after the program. A 2 × 2 between-within factorial multivariate analysis of covariance measured the effectiveness of the program while controlling for age, sex, height, weight, maturity, and self-reported physical activity.

The 6-month program significantly improved the skip, gallop, and locomotor motor competence in children with CHD (P < 0.05), whereas the TDP group displayed no change (P > 0.05). At baseline, children with CHD had lower locomotor, object control, and total motor competence compared with TDPs (P < 0.05). At follow-up, children with CHD had lower balance and total motor competence compared with TDPs (P < 0.05). No change was found in parental perception of physical literacy or the children's confidence for either group (P > 0.05).

Children with CHD had impaired motor competence at baseline, and although the program did result in an improvement in the locomotor domain, it was not able to mitigate all differences in physical literacy.