Children’s Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment

Abstract

The Children’s Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) is a standardized self-report or examiner-administered instrument designed to quantify and describe the extent and nature of a child’s participation in daily activities outside of school hours. The CAPE evaluates five crucial dimensions of participation: diversity, intensity, enjoyment, with whom the activity is performed, and location (where). It assesses 55 formal and informal activities spanning the preceding four months, categorized into five core domains: recreational, active/physical, social, skill-based, and self-development activities. This instrument is frequently paired with the Preferences for Activities of Children (PAC) to provide a holistic view of both engagement and preference.

Keywords

Participation, Children, Enjoyment, Daily Activities, Questionnaire, Occupational Therapy, Assessment, Pediatric, Leisure activities, Intensity, Diversity.

Authors

King G, Law M, Petrenchik T, Hurley P, Rosenbaum P (2004); Dutch version: Bult MK, Verschuren O, Jongmans M. J., Lindeman E, Steenbergen B (2010)

Purpose

The primary purpose of the CAPE is to provide a comprehensive and ecologically valid assessment of a child’s engagement in everyday activities during leisure time. It aims to quantify participation across various domains, offering a nuanced understanding of how children spend their time, which activities they prioritize, and the level of enjoyment derived from these activities.

This information is vital for clinicians, educators, and researchers seeking to develop targeted interventions that enhance a child’s quality of life and functional independence. By capturing five distinct dimensions of engagement, the CAPE allows professionals to identify specific barriers or facilitators to a child’s involvement in community and social life.

Construct

The CAPE measures the psychological and behavioral construct of participation, defined within the context of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework, focusing specifically on engagement in life situations outside of mandatory schooling.

The instrument breaks down participation into five measurable dimensions: Diversity (the number of different activities performed), Intensity (the frequency of engagement), Enjoyment (the subjective pleasure derived), Companionship (who the child participates with), and Location (the setting of the activity). The 55 activity items are grouped into categories reflecting different facets of development and engagement: Recreational, Active/Physical, Social, Skill-based, and Self-development activities.

Validity

Initial studies establishing the CAPE demonstrated strong content validity, ensuring that the 55 items comprehensively cover the range of typical out-of-school activities relevant to the target age group. Furthermore, construct validity has been supported by showing expected correlations between CAPE scores and measures of quality of life and functional status, confirming that it accurately measures the intended construct of participation.

The ecological relevance of the CAPE is high, as the activities assessed are drawn from real-world contexts, contributing to the instrument’s overall validity in clinical and research settings focused on pediatric rehabilitation and intervention planning.

Reliability

The CAPE typically exhibits good to excellent test-retest reliability, particularly for the frequency and diversity scores, suggesting that the measurement of participation patterns is stable over time when participation contexts remain constant. Inter-rater reliability is also generally high when the questionnaire is administered by trained examiners, especially when clarifying instructions for children who require assistance or have cognitive challenges.

Factor Analysis

Factor analytic studies conducted during the scale’s development confirmed the five proposed categories of activities (Recreational, Active/Physical, Social, Skill-based, and Self-development). These analyses support the internal structure of the CAPE, demonstrating that the activity items cluster logically according to their functional and developmental nature.

The multi-dimensional scoring profile, yielding separate scores for diversity, intensity, and enjoyment, is empirically supported by the factor structure, providing evidence that these five dimensions are distinct yet interrelated aspects of a child’s overall engagement.

Instrument

Test Type: Standardized Self-Report or Interview Questionnaire

Format: The CAPE consists of 55 items requiring the child to report on their participation and enjoyment levels over the preceding four months. Scoring yields five dimensions of participation. The original PDF explaining the scale’s use can be downloaded here: Toelichtingsformulier (Explanatory Form).

Language Available: Original English; validated Dutch version (Bult MK, et al., 2010); translations may exist in other major languages relevant to pediatric research.

Population Group: Children and adolescents.

Age Group: Typically utilized for children aged 6 to 21 years, although the primary focus is often on middle childhood and adolescence.

Population Details: Applicable to both typically developing children and those with physical, cognitive, or developmental disability, providing a critical measure for evaluating the impact of such conditions on daily life and societal engagement.

Test Methodology: The questionnaire can be administered directly to the child, either self-completed (for older children or those with adequate reading skills) or administered jointly with an examiner to ensure accurate comprehension and recording of responses. The accompanying instrument, the Preferences for Activities of Children (PAC), is often used concurrently to gauge activity preferences.

Keywords

Leisure activities, Occupational therapy, Rehabilitation, Pediatric assessment, Quality of life, Diversity, Intensity, Social engagement.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not publicly available in the source documentation.

Affiliation Email addresses: Contact information typically maintained by the primary publishing institution, often associated with the original research team at McMaster University or Queen’s University.

Correspondence Address: Correspondence generally directed to the primary author, Gail King (King G).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The original scale was published in 2004 by King G, et al. The Dutch adaptation was published in 2010. Information regarding licensing fees and formal permissions for clinical or large-scale research use should be sought directly from the copyright holders or the distributing psychological assessment organization, as usage may be subject to standard licensing agreements.

Reference’s

• King, G., Law, M., Petrenchik, T., Hurley, P., & Rosenbaum, P. (2004). Children’s Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) and Preferences for Activities of Children (PAC). Hamilton, ON: McMaster University.
• Bult, M. K., Verschuren, O., Jongmans, M. J., Lindeman, E., & Steenbergen, B. (2010). Psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the Children’s Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) and Preferences for Activities of Children (PAC). Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 26(2), 118–127.

Items of the Children’s Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The original source content did not include the 55 specific items of the Children’s Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE).