The Canadian Agility and Movement Skill Assessment: A Systematic Review on its Psychometric Properties and Discrimination Power

Abstract

Purpose

To systematically review the reliability, validity, and discriminatory capacity of the Canadian Agility and Movement Skill Assessment (CAMSA).

Method

A comprehensive search of the MEDLINE/PubMed, SPORTDiscus, and Scopus databases was conducted to identify studies providing data on the reliability, validity, or average and dispersion values of the CAMSA test. The quality of the studies reporting CAMSA reliability and validity was assessed using a checklist based on the sample description, time interval, results, and appropriateness of statistics.

Results

Of the initially forty-two studies located, twenty-two full texts were evaluated, with eight studies ultimately selected. Five investigations provided data on CAMSA reliability, and test-retest reliability was evaluated in three studies. Three studies involving 312 participants were pooled to determine the test-retest reliability of CAMSA-skill and CAMSA-time scores. Results indicated poor reliability for the CAMSA-skill score (ICC: 0.662; 95% CI: 0.29-0.86) and good reliability for the CAMSA-time score (ICC: 0.857; 95% CI: 0.76-0.92). Several studies conducted high-quality reliability analyses. Validity findings from five studies suggested moderate concurrent/convergent associations with other motor competence tests (r = 0.38 to 0.77) and some support for face and structural validity, although the overall quality of these studies was low or very low. The review also highlighted CAMSA’s lack of discriminatory power.

Conclusion

CAMSA shows good reliability for some aspects and moderate concurrent/convergent validity. However, concerns remain about its ability to effectively differentiate between demographic groups like age and sex. Further research is needed to fully establish the psychometric properties, especially its discriminatory power.