Conducting actigraphy research in children with neurodevelopmental disorders--a practical approach.

The literature has been highly informative for when to use actigraphy and its validity in pediatric research. However, minimal literature exists on how to perform actigraphy, especially in special populations. We determined whether providing actigraphy training to parents and coordinators increased the nights of actigraphy data that could be scored. We compared two studies in children with autism spectrum disorders, one of which provided a basic level of training in a single-site trial and the other of which provided more detailed training to parents and coordinators in a multisite trial. There was an increase in scorable nights in the multisite trial containing a one-hour structured parent training session. Our results support the use of educational tools in clinical trials that use actigraphy.