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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.