Environmental Opportunities Questionnaire: development of a measure of the environment supporting early motor development in the first year of life

Purpose: The development and testing of a measure evaluating the quality and variability in the home environment as it relates to the motor development of infants during the first year of life. Methods: A sample of 112 boys and 95 girls with a mean age of 7.1 months (SD 1.8) and GA of 39.6 weeks (SD 1.5) participated in the study. The measurement development process was divided into three phases: measurement development (item generation or selection of items from existing measurement tools), pilot testing to determine acceptability and feasibility to parents, and exploratory factor analysis to organize items into meaningful concepts. Test-retest reliability and internal consistency were also determined. Results: The Environmental Opportunities Questionnaire (EOQ) is a feasible 21-item measure comprised of three factors including opportunities in the play space, sensory variety and parental encouragement. Overall, test-retest reliability was 0.92 (CI 0.84-0.96) and the internal consistency is 0.79. The EOQ emphasizes quality of the environment and access to equipment and toys that have the potential to facilitate early motor development. Conclusion: The preliminary analyses reported here suggest more work could be done on the EOQ to strengthen its use for research or clinical purposes; however, it is adequate for use in its current form.