Measuring Levels of Physical Activity Among Adults in Miskan and Mareko District: A Validation Study
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Date
2004-04
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Addis Abeba university
Abstract
According to a substantial body of evidence, regular physical activity can bring significant
health benefits to people of all ages and abilities. Scientific evidence increasingly indicates
that physical activity can extend years of active independent living, reduce disability and
improve the quality of life of young and older adults. Despite these evidences, little is known
about physical activity or its measurement on a population basis.
A cross-sectional community based study was conducted to assess reliability and validity of
instruments for measuring levels of physical activity. The instrument with better reliability
and validity was used to measure levels and assess determinants of physical activity.
Simple random sampling was carried out to recruit a total of 940 subjects. Global Physical
Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)
were administered to all participants during the first contact. The questionnaires were
administered again after 4 days to a randomly selected sub-sample of 151 participants in
order to assess reliability. Validity of the questionnaires was assessed on another randomly
selected group of 186 study participants who wore motion monitor for seven consecutive
days.
A set of reliability tests indicated that GPAQ and IPAQ had good repeatability; balance in
favor of the former. Validity of the questionnaires was assessed by a number of methods.
Unlike reliability, validity was modest: percent correctly classified by concurrent validity of
GPAQ against IPAQ for various domains of activity was between 35.9 and 42.5; gross
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misclassification was in the range 17.7-26.3%. In criterion validity test of the questionnaires
against motion monitor, percent correctly classified was between 21.0 and 35.5 for GPAQ
and between 25.3 and 38.2 for IPAQ; gross misclassification was in the range of 21.1-40.3%
for GPAQ and 18.3-41.9 for IPAQ. The prevalence of physical activity measured by GPAQ
was found to be 77%(724/940).
Cumulative assessment of reliability and validity of questionnaires used in this study
indicated that GPAQ and IPAQ were appropriate for use in our setting. However, conducting
similar reliability and validity studies across different seasons and regions is strongly
recommended before applying them on large-scale studies.
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Keywords
Physical Activity