ABSTRACT
Interest in the concept and application of exercise-related effort perception amongst children has been obvious, yet rather erratic over the past 25 years. Whereas research with adults has yielded an abundance of published articles on the application of effort perception in an exercise environment, particularly with regard to the use of the Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale[1], relatively little sustained interest has been devoted to paediatric exercise. Within the last decade, however, concerns over the physical activity and fitness levels of children have provided the motivation for researchers to explore this area with more purpose. An obvious sign of this progress is the appearance of a child-specific perceived exertion scale, the Children’s Effort Rating Table[2], and reports on its validation [3-5].
