The Psychometric Properties of the Norwegian version of Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7557/29.7827Keywords:
Utvikling, Barn i skolealder, Barn i førskolealder, UngdomAbstract
Description: The Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2) includes both a standardized test and a checklist to identify and describe motor difficulties in children. The test battery was developed in the United Kingdom by Henderson, Sugden, and Barnett (2007). The Norwegian and international copyright holder is Pearson. The Norwegian translation from 2010 contains both Norwegian and British material. This review concerns the standardized test, which uses norms from British children aged 3 to 16 years, divided into three age bands. The test takes approximately 20-40 minutes to complete and consists of eight tasks for each age band, divided into three components of gross and fine motor skills. A total test score reflects the child's overall performance. The Norwegian copyright holder lists the following user qualifications: Authorized Psychologist, Occupational Therapist, Physiotherapist, or Special Educator.
Literature Search: Of 343 hits, nine Norwegian and 18 Swedish or Danish publications met the inclusion criteria. The samples were mainly clinical groups of children with various risk factors for neurological damage, especially premature children and children with low birth weight.
Psychometrics: There are indications that Scandinavian children perform better compared to the British norm group when examined. Large random variation as well as floor and ceiling effects raise questions regarding the instrument's sensitivity to change. Scandinavian studies support reliability, construct validity, and criterion validity. There was some variation in how thoroughly the psychometric properties were examined for each age band.
Conclusion: MABC-2 appears to be a useful instrument in both clinical settings and research, to assess children with suspected motor difficulties. However, the psychometric properties of the Norwegian version have not been sufficiently investigated. Lack of Scandinavian norms is a major weakness. Data on factor structure, internal consistency, and criterion validity is lacking. Professionals should be careful not to make clinical decisions solely based on MABC-2. A revised version (MABC-3) was recently introduced. We recommend independent assessments of the reliability and validity of this new version in the Scandinavian countries.
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