Validation and extension of a simple questionnaire to assess physical activity in pre-school children
Objective: To (i) validate a recently proposed questionnaire tool for the simple assessment of physical activity (PA) in pre-school children by comparison with accelerometry and heart-rate recordings; and (ii) extend the tool by adding more questions to improve validity and to refine the classificat...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| In: |
Public health nutrition
Year: 2012, Volume: 15, Issue: 9, Pages: 1611-1619 |
| ISSN: | 1475-2727 |
| DOI: | 10.1017/S1368980012001243 |
| Online Access: | Verlag, Volltext: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1368980012001243 Verlag, Volltext: http://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/validation-and-extension-of-a-simple-questionnaire-to-assess-physical-activity-in-preschool-children/B212A1BE0C7499748E8C020C59129C9F 
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| Author Notes: | Otmar Bayer, Marc Jarczok, Joachim Fischer, Rüdiger von Kries and Freia De Bock |
| Summary: | Objective: To (i) validate a recently proposed questionnaire tool for the simple assessment of physical activity (PA) in pre-school children by comparison with accelerometry and heart-rate recordings; and (ii) extend the tool by adding more questions to improve validity and to refine the classification from two to three categories (PA low, medium, high).Setting: Baseline data of an intervention evaluation study.Subjects: Pre-school children.DesignChildren were categorized as either physically active or non-active, based on their parents’ answers to the five-item questionnaire. Activity and heart rate were recorded for 6 d (Actiheart device; CamNtech, Cambridge, UK). Nightly sleeping periods were removed and mean accelerometry counts (MACT), time spent in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) and time spent in sedentary behaviour (SB) were computed. In a second step, additional questions that improved validity were added, resulting in an extended seven-item questionnaire.Results: For 748 (90·4 %) of the participating children aged 2·3-6·7 years, the questionnaires were filled out sufficiently for classification. Children classified as physically active showed 9·6 % higher MACT (P < 0·0003), spent more time in MVPA and insignificantly less time in SB. Using the extended questionnaire, children with PA classified as medium (reference: low) showed 11·0 % more MACT, spent 11·8 % more time in MVPA and 4·8 % less time in SB. Children with PA classified as high showed 16·9 % more MACT, spent 20·2 % more time in MVPA and 7·2 % less time in SB.Conclusions: With validated PA questionnaires for pre-school children lacking, the proposed questionnaire might be a reasonable option to include for PA assessment in epidemiological studies where more elaborate measurements are unavailable. |
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| Item Description: | First published online 1 June 2012 Gesehen am 22.10.2018 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 1475-2727 |
| DOI: | 10.1017/S1368980012001243 |