Using Process- and Product-oriented Measures to Evaluate Changes in Motor Skills across an Intervention

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to: (1) determine if process- and product-oriented measures similarly evaluate changes in motor skills across an intervention and (2) examine the relationship between preschoolers’ motor skills when assessed using process-oriented and product-oriented measures before (pretest) and after (posttest) the intervention. Preschoolers (n = 65, M_age = 4.6 ± 0.42 years) completed both process- and product-oriented measures of six FMS – run, hop, jump, catch, throw, and kick, before and after a high-autonomy motor skill intervention. Aggregate total, locomotor, and ball skills, as well as each individual skill, were examined. Children demonstrated improvements in process-oriented (p < .01) skills, but only improved on the product hop, throw, and kick (p < .001) after the intervention. Children’s ranks on process- and product-oriented measures were correlated at pretest (r_s = 0.28–0.72) and posttest (r_s = 0.39–0.68). Therefore, process- and product-oriented measures assess different aspects of motor competence and do not equally evaluate intervention efficacy.

KEYWORDS:

• Measurement
• pediatrics
• head Start
• assessment
• movement skills

Practical implications

• Process- and product-oriented measures do not evaluate changes in motor skills across and intervention similarly in preschoolers.

• Process-oriented measures appear to be more sensitive to changes in motor skills in this population.

• Changes in process-oriented measures of the hop, catch, and kick were related to changes in these skills’ product-oriented measures.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Laurie Catanzaro, Katherine M. Chinn, & Katherine Scott-Andrews for their assistance with the data collection. They would also like to thank all those who provided feedback on this manuscript.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this manuscript reflect the authorship team and are not an official position of the institutions or funders of this work.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health under Grant NHLBI- 1R01HL132979; the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity under Graduate Student Research Grant; and the Rackham Graduate School Post-Candidacy Research Award; Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, University of Michigan [Post-Candidacy Research Award];National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute [1R01HL132979].