Effects of motor skill interventions on fundamental movement skills in children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) are characterised by deficits in fundamental movement skills (FMS). In youth with typical development, motor skill interventions have been recognised as an efficient means to improve FMS. However, the effects of these interventions among youth with ID have not yet been systematically reviewed. PURPOSE: The purpose of the present systematic review was to summarise the findings from studies pertaining to the effects of motor skill interventions designed to improve FMS in children and adolescents with ID. METHOD: A systematic literature search (without year restriction) was performed in 12 databases. Studies in press or published in English in a peer-reviewed journal were included if: (1) participants were youth with ID aged 5 to 22; (2) motor skill interventions aimed to improve one or several FMS; and (3) they were experimental, quasi-experimental or pre-experimental. The Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale was used to assess the quality of the studies. RESULTS: Through the search strategy, 1083 articles were identified, and 14 studies published between 1969 and 2018 met the inclusion criteria. In studies with children, motor skill interventions successfully improved balance skills and overall FMS, whereas mixed and inconclusive results were found for locomotor skills. In studies with adolescents, motor skill interventions were shown to successfully improve balance skills. However, none of the motor skill interventions reviewed focused on locomotor and object control skills. CONCLUSIONS: The reviewed motor skill interventions were effective in improving balance skills in both children and adolescents with ID as well as overall FMS in children with ID. Conversely, the effects of motor skill interventions targeting locomotor and object control skills remain unclear. Therefore, given the relatively small number of studies and their limitations, the present findings need to be interpreted with caution, and further rigorous studies are necessary.

Prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Although there have been numerous studies examining the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities, they have not yet been integrated and synthesized through a systematic quantitative review process. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to determine: (i) the prevalence of overweight/obesity among children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities; (ii) the sources of heterogeneity in studies reporting the prevalence of overweight/obesity in this population; and (iii) the risk of overweight/obesity in this population compared with their typically developing peers. A systematic literature search was performed and 16 studies, published between 1985 and 2015, met the inclusion criteria. The resulting pooled prevalence estimates for overweight, overweight-obesity and obesity were respectively: (i) 15%, 30%, and 13%, in children; and (ii) 18%, 33%, and 15% in adolescents. Subgroup analyses showed significant variations in the pooled prevalence estimates as a function of geographical region, recruitment setting, additional diagnoses, and norms used to define overweight or obesity. The findings also showed adolescents with intellectual disabilities to be respectively 1.54 and 1.80 times more at risk of overweight-obesity and obesity than typically developing adolescents. Unfortunately, no such comparison is available for children. © 2016 World Obesity.

Prevalence and sport-related predictors of disturbed eating attitudes and behaviors: Moderating effects of sex and age.

Very few studies examined the prevalence and sport-related predictors of disturbed eating attitudes and behaviors (DEABs) among adolescents involved in sport practice, and their results are mixed and inconclusive. These inconsistencies are most likely due to their methodological heterogeneity and to the fact that none of these studies took into consideration the potentially relevant characteristics of the sport practice context. This study attempts to answer this limitation among French adolescents not involved or involved in various sports contexts defined based on their organization, leanness-centration, and competitive level. Participants were 335 adolescents involved in sport practice, and 435 adolescents not involved in any form of regular sport practice. The DEABs were measured using the Eating Attitudes Test-26. Global results do not showed any significant association between the status of the participants and DEAB. However, these results drastically changed when we considered the potential moderating role of sex and age on these relations. Indeed, sports involvement in general, and involvement in leanness and competitive sports were found to exert sex- and age-differentiated effects on the risks of presenting clinically significant levels of DEAB. This study suggests the importance of monitoring, preventive, and early intervention mechanisms within the context of practice, particularly for adolescent girls.

First measurement of the partial widths of 209Bi decay to the ground and to the first excited states.

209Bi alpha decay to the ground and to the first excited state have been recently observed for the first time with a large BGO scintillating bolometer. The half-life of 209Bi is determined to be τ(1/2)=(2.01±0.08)×10(19) yr while the branching ratio for the ground-state to ground-state transition is (98.8±0.3)%.

Psychometric properties of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) in French clinical and nonclinical adults.

BACKGROUND: Previous research on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) has five main limitations. First, no study provided evidence of the factorial equivalence of this instrument across samples of depressive and community participants. Second, only one study included systematic tests of measurement invariance based on confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), and this study did not consider the higher-order factor structure of depression, although it is the CES-D global scale score that is most often used in the context of epidemiological studies. Third, few studies investigated the screening properties of the CES-D in non-English-language samples and their results were inconsistent. Fourth, although the French version of the CES-D has been used in several previous studies, it has never been systematically validated among community and/or depressed adults. Finally, very few studies have taken into account the ordered-categorical nature of the CES-D answer scale. The purpose of the study reported herein was therefore to examine the construct validity (i.e., factorial, reliability, measurement invariance, latent mean invariance, convergence, and screening properties) of the CES-D in a French sample of depressed patients and community adults. METHODS: A total sample of 469 participants, comprising 163 clinically depressed patients and 306 community adults, was involved in this study. The factorial validity, and the measurement and latent mean invariance of the CES-D across gender and clinical status, were verified through CFAs based on ordered-categorical items. Correlation and receiver operator characteristic curves were also used to test the convergent validity and screening properties of the CES-D. RESULTS: The present results: (i) provided support for the factor validity and reliability of a second-order measurement model of depression based on responses to the CES-D items; (ii) revealed the full measurement invariance of the first- and second-order measurement models across gender; (iii) showed the partial strict measurement invariance (four uniquenesses had to be freely estimated, but the factor variance-covariance matrix also proved fully invariant) of the first-order factor model and the complete measurement invariance of the second-order model across patients and community adults; (iv) revealed a lack of latent mean invariance across gender and across clinical and community subsamples (with women and patients reporting higher scores on all subscales and on the full scale); (v) confirmed the convergent validity of the CES-D with measures of depression, self-esteem, anxiety, and hopelessness; and (vi) demonstrated the efficacy of the screening properties of this instrument among clinical and nonclinical adults. CONCLUSION: This instrument may be useful for assessing depressive symptoms or for the screening of depressive disorders in the context of epidemiological studies targeting French patients and community men and women with a background similar to those from the present study.

Prevalence and risk factors of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities.

Recent literature reviews showed that overweight and obesity represent a major health threat in adults with intellectual disability (ID). However, the current evidence around the prevalence and risk factors associated with overweight and obesity in children and adolescents with ID remains unclear. The objective of this article was thus to review the available English- and French-language studies examining the prevalence and risk factors associated with overweight and obesity in youths with ID. Ten studies providing original data on this topic were identified and included in this review. Results demonstrated that (i) overweight and obesity represent a significant secondary health problem in youths with ID; and (ii) obesity risk significantly increases with age. Considering all of the limitations of the reviewed studies (i.e. heterogeneity in sample size and in overweight and obesity classification criteria; lack of comparison group; restrictive number of risk factors examined, etc.), these findings remain preliminary and highlight the need for future research in this area.

Prevalence of eating disorders symptoms in nonelite ballet dancers and basketball players: An exploratory and controlled study among French adolescent girls.

BACKGROUND: Until recently, very few controlled studies have examined the prevalence of eating disorders (ED) symptoms among nonelite adolescent female athletes. Moreover, results are mixed and inconclusive. Therefore, the aim of this exploratory study was to examine the prevalence of ED symptoms (underweight, bulimia, drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction) among French nonelite adolescent female athletes (ballet dancers and basketball players) and nonathletes. METHOD: The sample of adolescent girls (aged between 12 and 16 years), consisted of 43 basketball players, 52 ballet dancers and 49 nonathlete controls. The eating disorder inventory and a demographic-personal information questionnaire (date of birth, experience of ED, week training time, etc.) were filled out by the participants. Additionally, all participants were measured and weighed. The frequencies of ED symptoms were compared between the groups (athletes versus nonathletes, ballet dancers versus basketball players) using a series of χ² tests. RESULTS: The χ² tests did not show significant differences in frequencies of underweight and body dissatisfaction symptoms between nonelite athletes and nonathletes. However, results highlighted a nonsignificant trend toward higher frequency of: (i) drive for thinness (P=0.05) symptoms in nonelite athletes compared with nonathletes, and (ii) bulimia (P=0.06) symptoms in nonathletes compared with nonelite athletes. Additional analyses performed among the sport groups revealed that the prevalence of drive for thinness symptoms was significantly two-fold higher in ballet dancers than basketball players (34.6% versus 16.3%). Nevertheless, no significant differences were found in the frequencies of underweight, bulimia and body dissatisfaction symptoms among the sport groups. CONCLUSION: This study showed that the frequency of ED symptoms is equivalent in nonelite athletes and nonathletes. However, these nonsignificant results should be interpreted with caution regarding the weak statistical power of the analyses and the small sample size. Detailed analysis revealed a significantly higher prevalence of drive for thinness symptoms in ballet dancers in comparison with basketball players. Consequently, these results should be viewed as preliminary and further studies are needed before they can be generalized to French adolescent female athletes.

[Overweight prevalence in preadolescents, adolescents and young adults with intellectual disability schooled in specialized institutions in Southeast of France: An exploratory study]. / Prévalence du surpoids chez des préadolescents, adolescents et jeunes adultes présentant une déficience intellectuelle scolarisés dans les instituts médicoéducatifs du Sud-est de la France : une étude exploratoire.

BACKGROUND: Prevalence of obesity is growing worldwide, especially in the population of adolescents with intellectual disability. Nevertheless, no study has focused on this problem in France. The objective of this work was thus to study body weight in French preadolescents, adolescents and young adults with intellectual disability schooled in specialized institutions. METHODS: Four hundred and twenty French participants with intellectual disability, aged 11 to 21, were included in the study. An epidemiological questionnaire was built and distributed to 14 specialized institutions where the participants were schooled. The following participants' characteristics were collected: age, sex, level of disability, psychopathology, genetic disorder and medication. International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) cut-off for adolescents and World Health Organisation cut-off for adults based on body mass index were used to define preobesity and obesity. Data were analysed with t-tests, analysis of variance and Chi(2) tests. RESULTS: 30.2% of participants were overweight, including 9.5% exhibiting obesity. Results showed that: girls were significantly more concerned by preobesity than boys; individuals with Down's syndrome were significantly more obese than those without genetic disorder; individuals taking psychotropic medications were significantly more obese than those who did not; no difference in prevalence could be identified regarding the level of intellectual disability and the presence or not of pervasive developmental disorders. CONCLUSION: The prevalences observed in this study are clearly higher than those observed in the general population. This creates a supplementary handicap for the social inclusion of this population. Specialized institutions should become aware of the recent development of this secondary illness.

Effects of alternated sport competition in perceived competence for adolescent males with mild to moderate mental retardation.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, two types of organized competitive sport (Segregated or Integrated) have been proposed for adolescents with mental retardation (AMR). These programmes often have as an objective the improvement of the individual's perceived competence. In France, a third competitive system, called Alternated sport meets (Segregated and Integrated) is actually used. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of this type of programme and type of sport (basketball versus running) on domains of perceived competence and general self-worth. The participants were 32 AMR (Mean age 13.5 years, SD = 0.80) divided equally into four groups: (a) alternated basketball; (b) alternated running; (c) control, adapted physical activity; (d) control, sedentary. The experimental treatment was for 7 months. The sport groups participated in 2 hours training each week and six competitive meets. We administrated Harter's (1985) Self-Perception Profile for Children seven times to determine changes in perceived competence and general self-worth. Results indicated no significant changes in the specific domains of perceived competence and general self-worth.