Development of a Brief Physical Activity Questionnaire

University of South Carolina: Prevention Research Center

Topics:
Nutrition & Physical Activity for Adults

Surveillance, or ongoing assessment, of populations’ physical activity behaviors helps reveal subgroups at risk for poor health due to low levels of activity. In the first phase of this study, the investigators developed and tested candidate questions for a brief physical activity questionnaire (SPAQ). In the second phase, respondents’ answers to the questions were validated against objective measures of their physical activity. The questions that best classified respondents among three levels of activity (inactive, insufficiently active, and meet activity recommendations) were identified for further testing as a SPAQ. In the third phase, the researchers implemented the proposed new SPAQ and compared the results with those from the questions in the physical activity module of the 2001 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Complete results of the study are being disseminated.

 

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