Assessment of self-perception of physical fitness and proposal for standards among Chilean adolescent students: the EAPAF study

Abstract

Introduction: Physical fitness may be assessed among children and adolescents in a quantitative and qualitative manner. At present, in Chile, there are no tools available to assess self-perception of physical fitness. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument that would allow to assess selfperception of physical fitness among adolescents and propose standards for age and sex. Material and methods: A survey was administered among adolescent students from six public schools in the Maule Region, Chile, selected in a probabilistic (stratified) fashion. To measure self-perception of physical fitness, a qualitative instrument was developed: the Self-Perception of Physical Fitness Scale (EAPAF, escala de autopercepción de la aptitud física), which is made up of four dimensions and 18 questions. The LMS method (L: Box-Cox coefficient, M: median curve, and S: variation coefficient) was used to establish percentiles and propose references by dimension, age and sex. Results: A total of 3060 adolescents (1702 boys and 1358 girls) aged 11.0 to 18.9 years old were included. The factor analysis evidenced four factors. Saturation values were above 0.40. The percentage of instrument explanation reached 54.24%. In terms of reliability, the 18 questions reflected that Cronbach's alpha was between 0.82 and 0.85. Percentiles (p15, p50 and p85) were developed to classify self-perception of physical fitness by dimension, age and sex. Boys showed higher scores in the self-perception of physical fitness scale when compared to girls (p < 0.001). Conclusion:The instrument developed in this study was valid and reliable. In addition, the standards proposed may become a useful tool to classify adolescents in relation to their selfperception of physical fitness.

Changes in children’s self-perceived physical fitness: results from a Physical Education internet-based intervention in COVID-19 school lockdown

“…The QAPA is a short questionnaire created specifically to facilitate the children’s understanding regarding self-perception of physical fitness in strength, flexibility, body weight, general fitness, and cardiorespiratory fitness. The questions were written originally in Portuguese based on another questionnaire [ 26 , 36 ]. The QAPA presents a consistency and reliability of 0.70–0.80 [ 18 ] and a significative ( β ’s = − 0.17 and 0.45; p =0.001) association with body mass index and cardiorespiratory fitness, suggesting that it is a valid instrument to measure SPPF [ 18 ].…”

“…However, traditional evaluations of children’s physical fitness have not been applied due to social distancing and lockdown. Thus, previous studies have shown that questionnaires are adequate resources for monitoring indicators related to fitness, physical activity, and health in children in social distancing context, mainly in lockdown [ 17 , 18 , 25 , 26 ]. Some cross-sectional diagnoses were made indicating that sedentary behavior, low levels of physical activity, and low levels of physical fitness were evident [ 14 , 17 , 18 , 27 , 28 ].…”