Validity Evidences of Children's OMNI Perceived Exertion Scale

Background/Purpose: Participating in moderate and vigorous intensity of physical activities (MVPA) has been emphasized, and various subjective measures (e.g., questionnaire, logs, diary, etc.) has been applied for children. However, it is difficult to determine the intensity of physical activity accurately for children. Children’s OMNI perceived exertion scale (OMNI-PES) can be the possible solution to enhance the accuracy of MVPA determination. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to scrutinize the validity evidences of OMNI-PES for children.

Method: A total of 33 children including 11 boys (BMI: 20.65±4.29, Age: 10.45±1.16) vs. 12 girls (BMI: 20.88±2.6, Age:10.42±0.76) were participated. Ten physical activities (PA) were performed during the treadmill activities and daily lives as follows: PA1) sitting, PA2) standing, PA3) slow walking, PA4) normal walking, PA5) brisk walking, PA6) slow running, and PA7) fast running, PA8) moving a box, PA9) stair up, and PA10) stair down. OMNI-PES (0-10) was employed while the children were performing the 10 PAs. At the same time, the oxygen consumption (VO2) to estimate MET scores and heart rate(HR) were measured by K2b2(Italy) as a criterion and reference measures, respectively.

Analysis/Results: Descriptive analysis, independent t-test, and Pearson’s correlation, and the multiple regression were employed utilizing SPSS 20.0 (a<.05). The mean±SD of each PA from each measure was as follows:

OMNI-PES: PA1) 0.13±0.46, PA2) 0.22±0.42, PA3) 0.55±0.74, PA4) 1.05±1.09, PA5) 1.82±1.30, PA6)3.18±1.71, PA7), 74.32±1.96, PA8) 0.91±1.11, PA9) 2.05±1.27, & PA10) 0.95±1.05.

MET: PA1) 1.66±0.31, PA2) 1.76±0.49, PA3) 3.69±0.72, PA4) 5.35±0.77, PA5) 6.52±0.99, PA6) 7.94±1.72, PA7) 8.13±1.43, PA8) 5.91±1.96, PA9) 5.55±1.11, & PA10) 3.56±0.75.

HR: PA1) 88.47±12.09, PA2) 94.15±13.33, PA3)108.61±12.19, PA4) 118.43±12.10, PA5) 127.75±12.13, PA6) 139.39±10.93, PA7) 150.87±12.33, PA8) 127.24±17.51, PA9) 128.66±12.47, & PA10) 113.99±12.65.

There was no gender difference (p>.05) in each variable. OMNI-PES showed moderately high correlations with HR (r=.517) and MET(r=.606). When HR and OMNI-PES were entered together for the multiple regression analysis, the prediction coefficient to estimate the MET value of PAs was increased up to R=.818, which was higher the OMNI-PES alone.

Conclusions: OMNI-PES was acceptable to apply for determining the PA intensity for children. The accuracy of predicting PA intensity for the target population should be examined with a large sample size in free-living.

Note: The study was supported by the Korea Research Foundation Grant funded by the Korean Government (MOEHRD, Basic Research Promotion Fund) (KRF-2011-G00082).