Reliability and validity of the electronic version of the short questionnaire to assess health-enhancing physical activity (E-SQUASH)

Abstract

The Short Questionnaire to Assess Health-enhancing Physical Activity (SQUASH) measures physical activity. This is a paper-and-pencil assessment. An electronic version of this scale, namely, the E-SQUASH, was developed to address the limitations of the paper-and-pencil version (e.g., missing data, time-consuming data entry processes, delay in sending feedback) and facilitate the handling of population data. This was a scale validation study. The test-retest reliability of the scale was examined the reproducibility of its scores. The consistency between the scores yielded by the E-SQUASH and paper-and-pencil version of the scale was examined. A total of 104 university students (response rate: 77%) participated. Regarding reproducibility, the two sets of total activity scores were strongly correlated (r = 0.68, p < 0.01), and the 95% CI (0.56–0.78) was adequate. There was a high level of consistency between the total activity scores that were yielded by the two versions of the scale (Intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.87). In this study, the reliability and validity of the E-SQUASH were established among university students. Further research is needed to convert this system into an application and translate its contents into different languages as well as across other age groups.