Balance and strength assessment of Special Olympics athletes: how feasible and reliable is the Fun Fitness test battery?

This study examined the test-retest reliability and feasibility of four muscle strength and three balance tests included in the Special Olympics (SO) FUNfitness test battery. The test is used worldwide to assess physical fitness of SO athletes with intellectual disabilities (ID). A sample of 36 Belgian participants with ID (22 men, 14 women) aged 8–30 years, completed a battery of seven tests twice within a two-week time interval. We assessed test-retest reliability by means of intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM), and Bland-Altman plots. All tests demonstrated good feasibility and relative and absolute reliability. The ICC ranged between 0.75 and 0.89. All SEM values demonstrated acceptable measurement precision (SEM<SD/2). The scatter around the Bland-Altman plots were randomly distributed. Despite the promising findings, further research is recommended to determine whether these balance and strength tests are also reliable in less standardized environments such as the SO testing-area.

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