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Movement Assessment Battery for Children—Second Edition (MABC-2): psychometric properties for Iranian children (age band 2)

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Abstract

Purpose

Diagnosis of motor problems requires using reliable assessment tools. Movement Assessment Battery for Children—Second Edition (MABC-2) is one of the widely used tests in this area. The first objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of MABC-2 in the Iranian children's communities. The second objective was to compare the norm of the test with the performance of Iranian children to ensure its applicability in the Iranian community.

Method

Five hundred and three participants aged 7–10 years old were selected from ordinary schools and individually were evaluated using MABC-2. Psychometric properties were evaluated by calculating internal consistency (Cronbach alpha), test–retest and inter-rater reliability (Intra-Class Correlation) (N = 48), factor validity (Confirmatory factor analysis), and concurrent validity (Pearson correlation coefficient) by comparing MABC-2 to TGMD-2 (N = 57). We also used t-test to compare the norms of the two populations.

Results

Internal consistency was acceptable (0.64). Inter-rater and test–retest reliability of the total score was in a good and excellent range: 0.86 and 0.99, respectively. Fit indices confirmed the presumed 3-factor validity of the test without any additional adjustments (X2 = 18.29; df = 17; P value = 0.371; RMSEA = 0.012; NFI = 0.953; CFI = 0.996; AGFI = 0.981). The concurrent validity between both MABC-2 and TGMD2 tests was poor (0.31). Also, the results of the performance of the two populations showed significant differences, indicating the necessity of developing norms for the Iranian community.

Conclusion

Psychometric properties of the MABC-2 were confirmed. M-ABC-2 is also applicable in the Iranian community, but specific norms are required.

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Availability of data and materials

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the testers, children, and the staff of the participating schools. Special acknowledgments are due to Ali Noshir and Susan Toofani for their contribution to the early part of the study.

Funding

The authors did not receive funds, grants, or other support from any organization for the submitted work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

    Majid Ojari, Maryam Bayatpour & Abdollah Ghasemi

  2. Pediatric Physical Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Occupational Therapy, Physical Medicine, Physiotherapy and Speech-Language Pathology/Audiology, Campus UZ Gent, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, B3, Entrance 46, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Hilde Van Waelvelde

  3. Faculty of Sport Sciences and Health, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Elahe Arab Ameri

  4. Department of Motor Learning and Control, Sport Science Research Institute, Tehran, Iran

    Ali Kashi

Authors
  1. Majid Ojari
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  2. Maryam Bayatpour
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  3. Hilde Van Waelvelde
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  4. Elahe Arab Ameri
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  5. Abdollah Ghasemi
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  6. Ali Kashi
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Contributions

All authors provided concept/idea/research design. MO and MB provided data collection and administered the tests. MO and MB wrote the manuscript with support from HW. MO and AK analyzed the data. EA and AG provided project management as thesis supervisors. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript. HW provided final manuscript review.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Majid Ojari.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Islamic Azad University' research committee. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Ojari, M., Bayatpour, M., Van Waelvelde, H. et al. Movement Assessment Battery for Children—Second Edition (MABC-2): psychometric properties for Iranian children (age band 2). Sport Sci Health 19, 1185–1192 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-023-01048-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-023-01048-w

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