Development and Validation of a Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire

Abstract

The PPAQ is a reliable instrument of physical activities during pregnancy.

Significant changes in physical activity among pregnant women in the UK as assessed by accelerometry and self-reported activity

“…This decline in activity is unlikely to be attributable to seasonal changes, since the study ran from winter to summer and recruitment was staggered over a 3-month period. Furthermore, seasonal changes have little influence on domestic and occupational activity, affecting principally sports participation (Chasan-Taber et al, 2004). Sports participation or structured exercise was extremely low throughout the study, hence, this effect is likely to be minimal and would not explain a decline in activity.…”

“…Previous studies employing accelerometry have not reported significant reductions in compliance over time. However, one study was cross-sectional (Chasan-Taber et al, 2004) and the other entailed laboratory visits on two consecutive days on two occasions across pregnancy (Stein et al, 2003). The former eliminated 23 days of recording on 14 subjects (total 54 subjects) due to failure to record accelerometer data; the latter found that recording time of actiwatch varied from 397 to 1055 min within any 24 h period, suggesting considerable variation in compliance.…”

“…Wrist actigraphy was used to study changes in women's sleep-wake cycles in pregnancy (Shinkoda et al, 1999), and mono-axial accelerometers have been employed to assess physical activity on two occasions in pregnancy (Stein et al, 2003). Actigraphy has recently been used to validate a pregnancy physical activity questionnaire, using only cross-sectional observations (Chasan-Taber et al, 2004).…”

Physical Exercise During Pregnancy – How Active Are Pregnant Women in Germany and How Well Informed?

“…We used an established, standardised paper-pencil questionnaire "Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire" [PPAQ] [24]) containing 47 items that, in addition to general person-specific and pregnancy details, especially captures data on participantsʼ exercise behaviour during pregnancy. The questionnaire, which was developed especially for use in pregnancy, is based on the principle of self-disclosure and takes the complexity and broad spectrum of physical activities into account.…”

“…In addition it records how pregnant women were informed about behavioural recommendations and how they perceive their own level of information. The questionnaire discriminates between sport/recreational exercise and other day-to-day activities and between different levels of intensity, allowing calculation of the average weekly energy expenditure for each area of activity (MET-h/wk = intensity of activity [MET-value] × duration of activity [h/wk]) [24]. The unit MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) is used in sports medicine to describe metabolic states, and thus energy expenditure.…”