Correlation of the Pediatric Volitional Questionnaire with the Test of Playfulness in a virtual environment: the power of engagement

The Pediatric Volitional Questionnaire (PVQ) was used along with the Test of Playfulness (TOP) to assess 16 children with cerebral palsy who took part in a study of virtual reality play intervention. Both observational measures are designed to assess children as they are engaged in occupations in one or more environments. Virtual reality offers an alternative play environment for children who have disabilities. It eliminates several physical barriers usually encountered in real life. It also is a powerful medium for engaging and providing a sense of control and enjoyment with the tasks engaged with. Several virtual environments and activities were offered to the children over an eight-week period. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between these two measures that were used to assess aspects of motivation and playfulness, and to explore which aspects of these measures are most correlated when assessing children in virtual environments. The Pearson correlation calculated between the average motivation score of the TOP and the average PVQ score was significant (r = .47, p = .05). The item correlations were all non-significant except for two. These were item 6 ‘stays engaged’ (r = .51, p = .03) and item 9 ‘tries to produce effects’ (r = .55, p = .02). There is some evidence that these two measures are tapping into similar constructs. These results will be discussed.