Reliability and Validity of the Dutch Physical Activity Questionnaires for Children (PAQ-C) and Adolescents (PAQ-A)

Abstract

BackgroundThis study was designed to validate the Dutch Physical Activity Questionnaires for Children (PAQ-C) and Adolescents (PAQ-A).MethodsAfter adjustment of the original Canadian PAQ-C and PAQ-A (i.e. translation/back-translation and evaluation by expert committee), content validity of both PAQs was assessed and calculated using item-level (I-CVI) and scale-level (S-CVI) content validity indexes. Inter-item and inter-rater reliability of 196 PAQ-C and 95 PAQ-A filled in by both children or adolescents and their parent, were evaluated. Inter-item reliability was calculated by Cronbach’s alpha (α) and inter-rater reliability was examined by percent observed agreement and weighted kappa (κ). Concurrent validity of PAQ-A was examined in a subsample of 28 obese and 16 normal-weight children by comparing it with concurrently measured physical activity using a maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test for the assessment of peak oxygen uptake (VO2 peak).ResultsFor both PAQs, I-CVI ranged 0.67-1.00. S-CVI was 0.89 for PAQ-C and 0.90 for PAQ-A. A total of 192 PAQ-C and 94 PAQ-A were fully completed by both child and parent. Cronbach’s α was 0.777 for PAQ-C and 0.758 for PAQ-A. Percent agreement ranged 59.9-74.0% for PAQ-C and 51.1-77.7% for PAQ-A, and weighted κ ranged 0.48-0.69 for PAQ-C and 0.51-0.68 for PAQ-A. The correlation between total PAQ-A score and VO2 peak – corrected for age, gender, height and weight – was 0.516 (p = 0.001).ConclusionsBoth PAQs have an excellent content validity, an acceptable inter-item reliability and a moderate to good strength of inter-rater agreement. In addition, total PAQ-A score showed a moderate positive correlation with VO2 peak. Both PAQs have an acceptable to good reliability and validity, however, further validity testing is recommended to provide a more complete assessment of both PAQs.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2049-3258-72-47) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Adherence to Mediterranean Diet Related with Physical Fitness and Physical Activity in Schoolchildren Aged 6–13

“…PAQ-C was validated for children aged 8-14. For this reason, in the case of children aged 6-7, the indications of Bervoets et al [42] were followed, as it recommended that parents should be encouraged to support their children with reading and to complete the questions, provided that they did not give any guidance in answering the questions.…”

Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Physical Activity Questionnaire for older Children into a Brazilian Portuguese version

“…PAQ-c is a self-administered 7-day recall questionnaire intended to assess habitual moderate to vigorous physical activity in older children [10]. While its criterion validity cannot be addressed because of the lack of a gold standard for measuring physical activity levels [7], evidence supports PAQ-c content [11], construct, convergent [12,13] and divergent validity [12], as well as good reliability [8,10,11,[13][14][15].…”

Physical Activity Assessment Using a Modified Paq-C Questionnaire

“…The assessment of PA is an essential part of profiling and monitoring in schools. Subjective methods for assessing physical activity, such as questionnaires, interviews and diaries, are often preferred to the objective ones (heart rate monitors, pedometer, and accelerometer) because of the simplicity with which they are conducted on children, without the need for special equipment (Bervoets et al, 2014). However, self-reporting questionnaires have their own difficulties due to the nature of the children's activity patterns and their lack of cognitive ability to accurately recall the amount and intensity of activity (Hagstromer and Sjostrom, 2010).…”