An Investigation of Physical Literacy and Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity in Children Aged 8-12 Years of Age in Southwestern Ontario

Physical literacy has been described as means to achieve an active lifestyle (Physical and Health Education Canada, 2014) and as the building blocks of physical activity, including fundamental movement skills, physical fitness, motor skills, the motivation and confidence (MC), and the knowledge and understanding (KU) to be physically active (Lander et al., 2017; Tremblay & Lloyd, 2010). In Canada, the Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy (CAPL) was developed as a means to collect and monitor physical literacy in Canadian children 8 to 12 years of age. The aim of the present study was to investigate associations between objectively measured moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), overall CAPL score and the 4 domains: daily behaviour (DB), physical competence (PC), KU, and MC (objective 1). In addition, to evaluate whether objectively measured MVPA could effectively replace the current subjective measure as a means to improve the CAPL tool. The results indicated that only 26.7% of children in southwestern Ontario met the physical literacy requirements to achieve health benefits. The overall CAPL score (except 8 and 12 year old females) and the DB category score (except 12 year old females) were positively associated with MVPA for males and females in all age groups. No differences were observed between the PC and KU categories, yet for MC, positive correlations were observed in 9 year old males and 10 year old male and females. Further, the measure of MVPA was suitable to replace the subjective measure of MVPA, although only contributes 3 points to the total CAPL score. Generally, the CAPL protocol was an effective tool in establishing the relationship between MVPA and physical literacy and is recommended to replace the current subjective MVPA measurement with the objectively measured MVPA collected via the pedometers