Reliability of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 in Danish preschool children

Introduction &amp; Aim<br/>The Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2) has been criticized for limited evidence of its reliability in assessing children as young as three years old. To date, reliability of the MABC-2 has not been investigated in Danish preschool children.<br/><br/>Methods<br/>Seventy-eight preschool children (aged 3–6 years) were recruited from the Motor Skills in PreSchool (MiPS) project and assessed twice using the MABC-2 with a standardized test protocol, separated by a one-week interval between assessments. Test-retest reliability was evaluated for test items and domains, using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC, 2.1A), and measurement error was quantified as the smallest detectable change (SDC-95%). Analyses were stratified by age and sex.<br/><br/>Results<br/>The test-retest reliability ICCs for the entire study population ranged from 0.17 to 0.64 (mean: 0.44). Only three items - threading beads, posting coins, and one-leg balance - demonstrated moderate reliability with ICC &gt; 0.50. Overall, ICCs were higher for children aged 3–4 years (mean: 0.47) and boys (mean: 0.52) compared to children aged 5–6 years (mean: 0.36) and girls (mean: 0.34). The SDC-95% ranged from ±4.6 to ±9.4, with minimal differences across sex and age groups.<br/><br/>Conclusion<br/>The preliminary results showed that the MABC-2 items and domains exhibited poor to moderate inter-rater reliability but acceptable measurement error for Danish preschool children. However, reliability was influenced by age, gender, and other factors, emphasizing the need for careful standardisation in future studies.<br/>