Development and initial validation of the Brunel lifestyle physical activity questionnaire

Area of Science:

• Exercise Science
• Public Health
• Digital Health

Background:

• Lifestyle physical activity is crucial for public health.
• Existing assessment tools may not be optimized for online delivery or specific populations.
• The need for validated digital health tools in fitness is growing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate an internet-based lifestyle physical activity questionnaire.
• To ensure suitability for the United Kingdom population.
• To create a reliable instrument for online behavioural assessment.

Main Methods:

• Content analysis and expert item generation were performed.
• An internet-based lifestyle physical activity questionnaire was developed.
• Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used on data from 1369 subjects to validate two subscales.

Main Results:

• Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the psychometric integrity of the questionnaire.
• Two distinct subscales, planned physical activity and unplanned physical activity, were validated.
• The instrument demonstrated reliability and validity for assessing lifestyle physical activity.

Conclusions:

• The developed questionnaire is a valid and reliable online tool for assessing lifestyle physical activity.
• It is suitable for use within the United Kingdom population.
• The questionnaire serves as an online behavioural assessment for a 12-week internet-delivered personalized fitness program.