Reliability and validity of the Körperkoordinationstest Für Kinder in Chinese children

Background The Körperkoordinationstest Für Kinder (KTK) is a reliable and low-cost motor coordination test tool that has been used in several countries. However, whether the KTK is a reliable and valid instrument for use in Chinese children has not been assessed. Additionally, because the KTK was designed to incorporate locomotor, object control, and stability skills, and there is a lack of measurement tools that include stability skills assessment for Chinese children, the KTK’s value and validity are worth discussing. Methods A total of 249 primary school children (131 boys; 118 girls) aged 9–10 years from Shanghai were recruited in this study. Against the Test of Gross Motor Development-3 (TGMD-3), the concurrent validity of the KTK was assessed. We also tested the retest reliability and internal consistency of the KTK. Results The test–retest reliability of the KTK was excellent (overall: r = 0.951; balancing backwards: r = 0.869; hopping for height: r = 0.918; jumping sideways: r = 0.877; moving sideways: r = 0.647). Except for the boys, the internal consistency of the KTK was higher than the acceptable level of Cronbach’s α > 0.60 (overall: α = 0.618; boys: α = 0.583; girls: α = 0.664). Acceptable concurrent validity was found between the total scores for the KTK and TGMD-3 (overall: r = 0.420, p < 0.001; boys: r = 0.411, p < 0.001; girls: r = 0.437, p < 0.001). Discussion The KTK is a reliable instrument for assessing the motor coordination of children in China. As such, the KTK can be used to monitor the level of motor coordination in Chinese children.