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 ≥ .69), power output ( rs ≥ .75), and oxygen consumption ( rs ≥ .69). In addition, correlations for CERT were consistently higher than those for RPE. High test-retest intraclass 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.