Sedentary and Non-Sedentary Behaviour Patterns of Children with Cerebral Palsy Who Use Wheelchairs.

• Author / Creator

  Innes, Jennifer AM

• Purpose: To examine the suitability of a direct observation method to quantify and describe sedentary behavior and non-sedentary breaks for children who have cerebral palsy (Gross Motor Function Classification System [GMFCS] levels III, IV, and V). Secondary goals were to evaluate the agreement between direct observation and each of two measuring devices, the ActiGraph and the SenseWear, for the sedentary and non-sedentary intervals coded using the direct observation method. Methods: Four children participated. They all had a diagnosis of cerebral palsy (ages 7-14), with GMFCS levels IV or V. The children were videotaped at school and/or at home while wearing the ActiGraph and the SenseWear. Noldus Observer XT 11.5 software was used to code the sedentary and non-sedentary intervals observed on the videos using the direct observation coding scheme. SenseWear and ActiGraph data were compared with direct observation coding using the sedentary and non-sedentary intervals identified by direct observation. Results: All four children had considerable amounts of sedentary time. They all took frequent but very short breaks from sedentary time. The majority of the breaks were shorter than 60 seconds; it is not known whether these short breaks have any physiological benefit. The direct observation, ActiGraph, and SenseWear showed inconsistent agreement with no trend noted. Conclusions: Measuring sedentary behavior for children who use wheelchairs is challenging and requires further investigation. It is important to evaluate the length of break required for physiological benefit for these children.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Children
  • Non-sedentary behaviour patterns
  • Cererbral palsy
  • Non-ambulatory
  • Sedentary behaviour patterns
  • Wheelchair

• Graduation date

  Fall 2014

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3R68S

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.