Preliminary face validation of the pictorial scale of perceived aquatic competence

Abstract

Only one investigation was interested in the development of a pictorial scale that assesses the perceived aquatic competence in children (1). This tool has a limited number of aquatic skills (ie 6 skills) and only targets children between 4 and 5 years old. Therefore, the development of a more complete and appropriate tool for children aged 4 to 8 years proves to be relevant. Thus, a group of researchers decided to develop this new tool called the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Aquatic Competence (EPCAP) (2). The objective of this study was to carry out preliminary face validation of EPCAP in children aged between 4 and 8 years. 50 Belgian children (girls n = 25) from 4 to 8 years old (6.1 ± 1.4 years) participated in the study. The children were interviewed individually to assess the understanding of 17 aquatic situations that make up the instrument developed (2). The interview included 4 questions of global understanding about each aquatic situation composed respectively of a sequence of progression with 3 images. Most children correctly identified the situations (82%) and managed to sequence the 3 corresponding images (91%). The results showed an increase in understanding according to age (4 years, 50%; 5 years, 73%; 6 years, 83%; 7 years, 89%; and 8 years, 96%). The description of the images by the children made it possible to highlight the elements that led to the misunderstanding of the situation or the difficulty in its sequence - situations 5 and 6 The interview included 4 questions of global understanding about each aquatic situation composed respectively of a sequence of progression with 3 images. Most children correctly identified the situations (82%) and managed to sequence the 3 corresponding images (91%). The results showed an increase in understanding according to age (4 years, 50%; 5 years, 73%; 6 years, 83%; 7 years, 89%; and 8 years, 96%). The description of the images by the children made it possible to highlight the elements that led to the misunderstanding of the situation or the difficulty in its sequence - situations 5 and 6 The interview included 4 questions of global understanding about each aquatic situation composed respectively of a sequence of progression with 3 images. Most children correctly identified the situations (82%) and managed to sequence the 3 corresponding images (91%). The results showed an increase in understanding according to age (4 years, 50%; 5 years, 73%; 6 years, 83%; 7 years, 89%; and 8 years, 96%). The description of the images by the children made it possible to highlight the elements that led to the misunderstanding of the situation or the difficulty in its sequence - situations 5 and 6 The results showed an increase in understanding according to age (4 years, 50%; 5 years, 73%; 6 years, 83%; 7 years, 89%; and 8 years, 96%). The description of the images by the children made it possible to highlight the elements that led to the misunderstanding of the situation or the difficulty in its sequence - situations 5 and 6 The results showed an increase in understanding according to age (4 years, 50%; 5 years, 73%; 6 years, 83%; 7 years, 89%; and 8 years, 96%). The description of the images by the children made it possible to highlight the elements that led to the misunderstanding of the situation or the difficulty in its sequence - situations 5 and 6(float) ; situation 12 (head dive) ; situation 16 (leaving the water) and situations 15, 16 and 17 (changes of direction) . The results suggest that the understanding of the current version of EPCAP is satisfactory from the age of 5. The images of the aquatic situations that generated misunderstanding and / or difficulty in the sequence of progression were proposed for review accordingly, and it is recommended to proceed with the face validation of the future version of the EPCAP.