Recommendations Emerging From Reviewing Studies Assessing the Psychometric Properties of Physical Activity Questionnaires in Childhood

Short Oral

Abstract Overview

Purpose: To inform studies developing and validating psychometric properties of physical activity (PA) questionnaires for children and adolescents.
Methods: We used the results of our two recent reviews to identify gaps and areas of improvement. The first review systematically apprised and summarized 85 papers evaluating the psychometric properties of PA questionnaires to identify the best available questionnaires in childhood. The second review included 197 papers from three systematic reviews to evaluate the inclusion and exclusion of children with disabilities and chronic diseases (CDACDs) within these studies.
Results: Our first systematic review did not identify any PA questionnaire with concurrent acceptable validity and reliability due to a lack of high methodological quality and/or satisfactory validity (correlation ≥0.4) and reliability (≥0.7). Most low methodological quality studies used a comparator tool with unknown or unacceptable measurement properties or inappropriate test and retest time intervals. The second review indicated that 22% of studies reported whether they included or excluded CDACDs. The percentage of studies that included CDACDs remained low despite recent increases. Few included papers were from low-income countries (1%).
Conclusion: We recommend employing standardized guidelines (e.g., COSMIN) to improve the methodological quality of studies, specifically by reporting detailed information about the content validity, selecting appropriate test and retest time intervals, choosing comparator tools with adequate validity, and evaluating measurement error of PA questionnaires using appropriate statistical methods. We suggest including all age-appropriate domains of PA (school, leisure, sports, chores, transportation, and work) when developing questionnaires to measure total PA, developing and validating more PA questionnaires for preschoolers and including diverse regions/countries, especially low-income countries and rural communities. Further research is needed to develop and validate PA questionnaires or evaluate the psychometric properties of existing PA questionnaires among CDACDs.
Funding: Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy.

Additional Authors

Name: Farzana Sadia
Affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4, Canada
Presenting Author: no
Name: Nguden Kwaghbo
Affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4, Canada
Presenting Author: no
Name: Ogochukwu Kelechi Onyeso
Affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4, Canada
Presenting Author: no
Name: Judy Benavides Castro
Affiliation: School of Medicine, Universidad de Los Andes, Cra 1 18ª-12, Bogotá, Colombia
Presenting Author: no
Name: Diego Augusto Santos Silva
Affiliation: Department of Physical Education, Sports Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis 88040-900, Santa Catarina, Brazil
Presenting Author: no
Name: Yiping Yan
Affiliation: School of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Sport, Yangpu District, 200438, Shanghai, China
Presenting Author: no
Name: Yangyang Shen
Affiliation: School of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Sport, Yangpu District, 200438, Shanghai, China
Presenting Author: no
Name: Zdenek Hamrik
Affiliation: Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University Olomouc, Tr. Míru 117, 779 00, Olomouc, Czech Republic
Presenting Author: no
Name: Olga Lucia Sarmiento
Affiliation: School of Medicine, Universidad de Los Andes, Cra 1 18ª-12, Bogotá, Colombia
Presenting Author: no
Name: Yang Liu
Affiliation: School of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Sport, Yangpu District, 200438, Shanghai, China
Presenting Author: no
Name: Sarah Moore
Affiliation: School of Health and Human Performance, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada
Presenting Author: no
Name: Mark Tremblay
Affiliation: Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, CHEO Research Institute, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L1, Canada
Presenting Author: no
Name: Richard Larouche
Affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4, Canada
Presenting Author: yes

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Information

Study Type: Measurement or surveillance
Subtheme: Other (please specify)
Population Group: Early Childhood, Children, Adolescents
Setting: School, Workplace, Sport, Family, Transport

Submitting Author

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Mahdi Rostami Haji Abadi
Research Program Manager
University of Lethbridge
Canada

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