Abstract
Tools of surveillance and reporting of physical activity (PA) can provide data on participation rates and environmental characteristics for enhancing awareness of children’s and adolescents’ PA. Country-specific report cards are a common practice to synthesize the best available national evidence of PA in children and adolescents. These report cards align with the Global Matrix on PA for Children and Adolescents’ standardized grading framework. As an advocacy tool, PA report cards can provide guidance on strategic PA interventions and policy. This study focuses on families of children and adolescents with disabilities (CAWD) and their perspectives towards PA report cards as an information-sharing practice for PA surveillance in CAWD. A secondary analysis of interview data from parent-CAWD dyads from Canada and the United States was conducted. Participants included 8 mothers, one father, and 11 CAWD (7 boys, 4 girls, 9 to 15 years) with an intellectual, physical, and/or visual impairment. Interview questions focused on understanding participants’ personal meaning of the information presented within existing PA report cards. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to generate five themes: Physical activity reporting matters to families of CAWD; Disability representation is complex; Significance of the messenger and message; Multimodal translation and dissemination is necessary; Information that is visual and ‘punchy’ works best. These findings highlight how the existing PA report cards, as a surveillance and reporting mechanism, do not support caregivers with understanding the current levels of PA in CAWD and bring awareness for prioritizing co-creation of reporting and surveillance tools with families of CAWD.
