Comparative Evaluation of Ecological Momentary Assessment, Global Physical Activity Questionnaire, and Bouchard’s Physical Activity Record for Measuring Physical Activity: A Multilevel Modeling Approach (Preprint)

Abstract

UNSTRUCTURED Background: There is growing interest in the real-time assessment of physical activity and physiological variables. Acceleration, particularly those collected through wearable sensors, has been increasingly adopted as an objective measure of physical activity. However, sensor-based measures often pose challenges for large-scale studies due to their associated costs, inability to capture contextual information, and restricted user populations. Smartphone-delivered Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) offers an unobtrusive and undemanding means to measure physical activity to address these limitations. Objective: To evaluate the usability of EMA by comparing its measurement outcomes with two self-report assessments of physical activity: Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) and a modified version of Bouchard’s Physical Activity Record (BAR). Methods: 235 participants (137 females, 98 males, 94 repeated) participated in one or more 7-day study. Waist-worn sensors provided by Actigraph™ captured accelerometer data while participants completed three self-report measures of physical activity. The multilevel modeling method was used with EMA, GPAQ, and BAR as separate measures, with eight sub-domains of physiological activity (overall physical activity; overall excluding occupational; move; moderate and vigorous exercise; moderate and vigorous occupational; sedentary) to model accelerometer data. Results: Among the three measurement outcomes, EMA (β = .185, p = .005) and BAR (β = .270, p < .001) exhibited higher overall performance over GPAQ (β = .140, p = .019). EMA also showed a more balanced performance, compared to other measurement tools, in modeling various physical activity domains, including occupational, leisure, and sedentary behaviour. Conclusions: Multilevel modeling on three self-report assessments of physical activity indicates that smartphone-delivered EMA is a valid and efficient method for assessing physical activity.telemedicine; smartphone; wearable electronic devices; physical activity