Validation of the Italian Translation and Cultural Adaptation of the Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy-2 (CAPL-2) Questionnaire for Children

TL;DR

The Italian version of the CAPL-2 questionnaire is a reliable and culturally adapted tool for assessing physical literacy in children aged 8–12.

Contribution

The paper validates a culturally adapted version of the CAPL-2 questionnaire for Italian children, ensuring its reliability and predictive validity.

Findings

The Motivation and Confidence domain showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s α: 0.88–0.97).

The questionnaire accurately predicted adherence to WHO physical activity guidelines with AUC values of 0.95 and 0.89.

Abstract

What are the main findings?
The Italian version of the CAPL-2 questionnaire demonstrated excellent internal consistency in the Motivation and Confidence domain (Cronbach’s α: 0.88–0.97), aligning with international validation studies.The questionnaire showed high predictive validity for identifying children who meet WHO recommendations for physical activity, with AUC values of 0.95 (5 days) and 0.89 (6 days).

The Italian version of the CAPL-2 questionnaire demonstrated excellent internal consistency in the Motivation and Confidence domain (Cronbach’s α: 0.88–0.97), aligning with international validation studies.

The questionnaire showed high predictive validity for identifying children who meet WHO recommendations for physical activity, with AUC values of 0.95 (5 days) and 0.89 (6 days).

What is the implication of the main finding?
The validated CAPL-2 offers Italian educators and researchers a culturally adapted, reliable tool to assess children’s physical literacy in school and sport contexts.This tool can support early interventions promoting physical activity and lifelong health, in line with Italy’s recent educational reforms and international public health goals.

The validated CAPL-2 offers Italian educators and researchers a culturally adapted, reliable tool to assess children’s physical literacy in school and sport contexts.

This tool can support early interventions promoting physical activity and lifelong health, in line with Italy’s recent educational reforms and international public health goals.

Background/Objectives: Physical literacy is a holistic concept promoting lifelong health by considering an individual’s lived experience within their cultural context. This necessitates context-specific conceptualizations and pedagogies, highlighting the need for valid assessment tools for physical and sport educators. The Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy (CAPL-2) is a well-known validated tool. This study aimed to validate the Italian translation and cultural adaptation of the CAPL-2 questionnaire for children aged 8–12. Methods: The CAPL-2 questionnaire was translated using a forward–backward procedure by bilingual experts. Subsequently, 111 Italian children (57 females, mean BMI 17.9 kg/m2) completed the adapted CAPL-2 questionnaire twice over 10 days under supervision. The internal consistency of CAPL-2 was assessed with Cronbach’s alpha. ROC curve analysis and AUC evaluated the CAPL-2’s ability to predict adherence to WHO physical activity guidelines based on self-reported activity. Results: Results showed high internal consistency for the motivation and confidence domain (Cronbach’s α: 0.88–0.97) but lower consistency for the knowledge and understanding domain (Cronbach’s α: 0.20–0.34). Despite this, the CAPL-2 questionnaire demonstrated high predictive performance in identifying children active for at least 5 days (AUC: 0.95) or 6 days (AUC: 0.89). Conclusions: The Italian version of CAPL-2 is a reliable tool for assessing physical literacy in Italian children aged 8 to 12, addressing key aspects such as motivation, confidence, physical skills, understanding of physical activity, and daily habits. It offers a valuable and culturally adapted instrument for trainers, teachers and educators in physical activity and sport contexts.

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