Objective: The purpose of this literature review is to examine the most psychometrically sound (e.g., valid and reliable) instruments measuring physical activity (PA) so that reflection of preschool children’s activity and documentation of intervention effects on preschool child PA is accurate.
Methods: Rigorous validation and calibration studies and those studies designed to test the psychometric properties of PA measurement instruments were specifically sought out to include in this review. Articles were excluded if they did not include specific information about the validity and reliability of the PA measures used with preschool children.
Discussion: Of the six articles reviewed, the systematic review used the most rigorous protocols to conduct its review, yielding the highest level of evidence appraising several validation studies. Because Pfeiffer et al. (2006) utilized the most valid and reliable criterion measure (Cosmed® portable metabolic system), the validation study this research team conducted is deemed to have identified the most valid and reliable cut points to utilize when reducing accelerometry data.
Conclusion: Current cut-points vary widely and greatly affect the reported results of a study. Therefore, it is critical that authors reference validation studies used to support the cut-points that were employed in the data-reduction phase. Currently, validation methods have been identified using high quality criterion measures in rigorous validation studies and thus it is strongly recommended that those cut points be used in data reduction processes.
etworking and a tool for stress coping methods.
With this blog, it is my objective to aid my peers who might need help recognizing and coping with stress by the following methods:
a) Actualize the burden of Stress—Chronic stress is a burden and can be overwhelming if not managed. By disclosing my own stressors, it is my hope that peers will identify with me, so that I can then change the way they view and handle the stress.
b) Discuss the psychological and physical effects of stress on the body—It is my intent to clarify how unmanaged chronic stress can affect the physical and mental health and how acute stress is normal and healthy.
c) Share my coping methods that I have found effective in five minute or less videos with blurbs about how and why they are effective. I believe showing them to you in these mostly raw and unedited videos help maintain the current theme I am going for—keep things as real and raw as possible. Hopefully, these raw videos will help peers visualize working coping methods!
Critical flicker fusion thresholds (CFFTs) describe when quick amplitude modulations of a light source become undetectable as the frequency of the modulation increases and are thought to underlie a number of visual processing skills, including reading. Here, we compare the impact of two vision-training approaches, one involving contrast sensitivity training and the other directional dot-motion training, compared to an active control group trained on Sudoku. The three training paradigms were compared on their effectiveness for altering CFFT. Directional dot-motion and contrast sensitivity training resulted in significant improvement in CFFT, while the Sudoku group did not yield significant improvement. This finding indicates that dot-motion and contrast sensitivity training similarly transfer to effect changes in CFFT. The results, combined with prior research linking CFFT to high-order cognitive processes such as reading ability, and studies showing positive impact of both dot-motion and contrast sensitivity training in reading, provide a possible mechanistic link of how these different training approaches impact reading abilities.