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[Reliability and validity of the PAQ-A questionnaire to assess physical activity in Spanish adolescents]
David Martínez-Gómez1, Vicente Martínez-de-Haro, Tamara Pozo
1Departamento de Metabolismo y Nutrición. Grupo de Inmunonutrición, Instituto del Frío, Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de los Alimentos y Nutrición (ICTAN), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, España.
Background:
Questionnaires are feasible instruments to assess physical activity (PA) in large samples. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the PAQ-A questionnaire in Spanish adolescents using the measurement of PA by accelerometer as criterion.
Methods:
In a sample of 82 adolescents, aged 12 to 17 years, 1-week PAQ-A test-retest was administered. Reliability was analyzed by the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and the internal consistency by the Cronbach's alpha Coefficient. Two hundred thirty-two adolescents, aged 13-17 years, completed the PAQ-A and wore the ActiGraph GT1M accelerometer during 7-days. The PAQ-A was compared against total PA and moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) obtained by the accelerometer.
Results:
Test-retest reliability showed ICC = 0.71 for the final score of PAQ-A. Internal consistency was alpha = 0.65 in the first self-report, alpha = 0.67 in the retest in 82 adolescents sample, and alpha = 0.74 in the 232 adolescents sample. The PAQ-A was moderately correlated with total PA (rho = 0.39) and MVPA (rho= 0.34) assessed by the accelerometer. The PAQ-A obtained significantly moderate correlations in boys but not in girls against the accelerometer.
Conclusions:
The PAQ-A questionnaire shows an adequate reliability and a reasonable validity for assessing PA in Spanish adolescents.
