Journal of Child and Adolescent Behavior
Open Access

Review Article

Assessment of Measures of Physical Activity of Children with Cerebral Palsy at Home and School: A Pilot Study

¹The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Department of Sports Science and Physical Education, Shatin, Hong Kong, China

²The University of Hong Kong, Institute of Human Performance, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China

³Deakin University, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Australia

⁴San Diego State University, School of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, San Diego, USA

*Corresponding Author:

Cindy H Sit
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Department of Sports Science and Physical Education
Hong Kong , China
Tel: (852) 3943-4126
Fax: (852) 2603-5781
E-mail: sithp@cuhk.edu.hk

Received Date: August 28, 2013; Accepted Date: October 15, 2013; Published Date: October 27, 2013

Citation: Sit CH, Capio CM, Cerin E, McKenzie TL (2013) Assessment of Measures of Physical Activity of Children with Cerebral Palsy at Home and School: A Pilot Study. J Child Adolesc Behav 1: 112. doi:10.4172/2375-4494.1000112

Copyright: © 2013 Sit CH, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract
Home and school are important settings where children can accrue health promoting physical activity (PA). Little
is known about the PA levels and associated environmental characteristics at home and school in children with
cerebral palsy (CP). An observational tool - Behaviors of Eating and Activity for Children’s Health Evaluation System
(BEACHES) - offers potential for providing information.
Objective: To validate BEACHES against Actigraph accelerometer and to document PA of children with CP at
a special residential school facility for children with physical disabilities.
Methods: Five children with CP (2 girls, 3 boys; aged 9.82 ± 2.39 years) in Level I of the Gross Motor Function
Classification System (GMFCS) participated. PA monitoring was conducted once a week during four consecutive
weeks at morning recess at school and during after school hours at the children’s residence. Estimates of time
spent being sedentary and being active were derived from the Actigraph and compared to estimates obtained with
BEACHES.
Results: Children’s PA observed using BEACHES was comparable to the Actigraph estimations. In general,
children were more active at recess than after school and the physical locations assessed by BEACHES were
associated with objectively measured PA time.
Conclusion: This pilot study indicates that BEACHES appears to be a suitable measure of PA for children with
CP in both home and school settings. Additional study with a larger and more diverse sample is recommended to
verify the results.

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