Self-administered questionnaire compared with interview to assess past-year physical activity

Area of Science:

• Epidemiology
• Public Health
• Physical Activity Research

Background:

• The Modifiable Activity Questionnaire (MAQ) is a validated and reliable tool for assessing physical activity.
• The MAQ was originally designed for interviewer-administered use.
• This study adapted the MAQ into French and evaluated its self-administered version.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare physical activity data collected via self-administration versus interviewer-administration of the French MAQ.
• To assess the validity and reliability of the self-administered French MAQ for past-year physical activity assessment.

Main Methods:

• 84 participants (22 men, 62 women) from the SU.VI.MAX study completed both self-administered and interviewer-administered French MAQ versions in a randomized order.
• Physical activity (leisure, occupational) and television viewing were measured.
• Data were analyzed using ANOVA on ranks, and agreement was assessed with nonparametric intraclass correlation coefficients.

Main Results:

• Lower leisure physical activity values were reported in self-administered conditions compared to interviewer-administration.
• High concordance was observed across all variables: leisure activity (ICC=0.90), occupational activity (ICC=0.82), total activity (ICC=0.83), and television viewing (ICC=0.97).

Conclusions:

• The self-administered French MAQ demonstrates strong agreement with the interviewer-administered version.
• The self-administered MAQ is a valuable tool for assessing past-year physical activity and inactivity in large-scale population studies.
• This instrument can be utilized in research investigating physical activity's relationship with health outcomes.