A systematic review and meta-analysis of outcome measures to assess coordination among children

• Published in: Journal of bodywork and movement therapies 2025-03, Vol.41, p.171-186
• Main Authors: Sharma, Nidhi, Goyal, Manu, Kumar Srivastav, Adarsh, John Samuel, Asir
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Child; Child, Preschool; Equilibrium; Humans; Motor skills; Motor Skills - physiology; Outcome assessment; Outcome Assessment, Health Care - methods; Outcome Assessment, Health Care - standards; Physical Therapy Modalities - standards; Psychometrics - standards; Reproducibility of Results; Root cause analysis
• ISSN: 1360-8592; 1532-9283; 1532-9283
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbmt.2024.10.024

Coordination can be tested through different outcomes, which provide a platform for clinical and research purposes. The psychometric properties of the outcomes aid clinicians/researchers in appropriately selecting the measure. To investigate the coordination outcomes measures for children aged 4–17. A literature search was made using PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Cochrane, Ovid-SP, and PEDro from inception to August 2021. Experimental studies involving children, written in English with coordination as one of the variables, were included. An adapted version of the COSMIN checklist was used for psychometric properties. Quality assessment of included articles was evaluated through the risk of bias, Level of Evidence, Grades, and PEDro. 1082 articles were screened, of which 12 trials were included. Gross motor coordination has been observed as a part of the coordination tests. Meta-analysis of Korperkoordinationtests fur Kinder (KTK) showed high heterogeneity (I2 = 93%) among intervention effects. 93% of outcome measures are reliable, but only 46% have criterion validity, while responsiveness is found in 73%. The KTK showed excellent methodological quality, while other outcome measures had limitations in their psychometric properties. Therefore, there is a need to refine and develop coordination scales with excellent psychometric properties that could be useful for children aged 4–17 years.