title: An assessment of the validity and reliability of two perceived exertion rating scales among Hong Kong children.
abstract: This study evaluated the validity and reliability of the Chinese-translated (Cantonese) versions of the Borg 6-20 Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale and the Children's Effort Rating Table (CERT) during continuous incremental cycle ergometry with 10- to 11-yr.-old Hong Kong school children. A total of 69 children were randomly assigned, with the restriction of groups being approximately equal, to two groups using the two scales, CERT (n = 35) and RPE (n = 34). Both groups performed two trials of identical incremental continuous cycling exercise (Trials 1 and 2) 1 wk, apart for the reliability test. Objective measures of exercise intensity (heart rate, absolute power output, and relative oxygen consumption) and the two subjective measures of effort were obtained during the exercise. For both groups, significant Pearson correlations were found for perceived effort ratings correlated with heart rate (rs > or = .69), power output (rs > or = .75), and oxygen consumption (rs > or = .69). In addition, correlations for CERT were consistently higher than those for RPE. High test-retest intra-class correlations were found for both the effort (R = .96) and perceived exertion (R = .89) groups, indicating that the scales were reliable. In conclusion, the CERT and RPE scales, when translated into Cantonese, are valid and reliable measures of exercise intensity during controlled exercise by children. The Effort rating may be better than the Perceived Exertion scale as a measure of perceived exertion that can be more validly and reliably used with Hong Kong children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education, Hong Kong Baptist University.
authors.forename: Mee-Lee
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.forename: Pak-Kwong
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Raymond W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Leung
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D003469:Culture; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology; D005082:Physical Exertion / Q000502:physiology*; D011897:Random Allocation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires