Comparing Participatory and Competitive Games Effect on Self-Efficacy in Primary School Girls with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Background & Objectives

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) affects 5%–6% of school–aged children. The impacts of DCD are not just confined to daily activities and educational function but are also associated with poor physical health, fitness, and psychosocial outcomes. Based on some problems in gross movement skills (fundamental skills), some students with DCD play weaker than their peers. They spend more energy when playing. It seems essential to recognize it on time and adopt a supportive and suitable treatment for these students. Evidence suggests the effectiveness of exercise training on improving coordination, balance, and sensory–perceptual function in children with DCD; however, limited research has been performed on the types of perceptual–motor exercises that can help children with DCD to improve their psychomotor skills. The current study aimed to compare participatory and competitive games' effect on self–efficacy in primary school girls with DCD.

This was a quasi–experimental study with pretest–posttest and a control group design. Screening and initial testing were performed using the Revised Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ–7; Wilson et al., 2009) and Movement Assessment Battery for Children–Second Edition (MABC–2; Henderson et al., 2007). Then, 36 children (out of 560 female students) ranging in age from 9 to 12 years from 6 girls' schools in Babol City, Iran, in the 2018–2019 academic year volunteered to cooperate. The inclusion criteria included the age range of 9–12 years, obtaining a score below the cut–off point (percentage score below 0.05) based on the MABC–2, no hyperactivity symptoms, no lack of attention based on the Child Symptom Inventory (CSI–4), and no acute neurological, skeletal, and muscular problems and atrial system issues confirmed by the physician and physiotherapist. The exclusion criterion was non–regular participation in the training sessions. The Children's Self–Efficacy for Peer Interaction Scale (CSPIS; Wheeler & Ladd, 1982) was used to assess the pretest and post–test self–efficacy variable. After completing the pretest stage, the study participants were matched based on the MABC–2 test scores and were divided into two training groups and one control group. The training groups consisted of the competitive game group and participatory game group. The control group was also actively studied in implementing daily exercise programs and other groups. Each exercise program consisted of 3 stages; general warm–up (15 minutes), core exercises (35 minutes), and fun games to cool down (10 minutes). The games and instructions were the same in both groups; however, the examiner emphasized winning and losing in the competitive group. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean & standard deviation), Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), and LSD post hoc test at the 0.05 significance level in SPSS.

The ANCOVA results revealed a significant difference between the three groups in self–efficacy (p<0.001). The LSD test data indicated a significant difference between the control group and both competitive groups (p= 0.005) and the participatory group (p<0.001). There was also a significant difference between the competitive and participatory groups (p<0.001).

The present research results demonstrated that competitive and participatory games improve self–efficacy in girls aged 9–12 years with DCD; however, the impact of participatory games on improving self–efficacy is greater than that of competitive games.