Test-retest Reliability of Physical Activity Behavior Questionnaire for Adults

There is a greater need than ever to assess daily physical activity more accurately and to monitor comprehensive trends in habitual physical activity to meet the physical activity recommendations of health organizations, such as the American Heart Association and the World Health Organization.

The purpose of this study was to design a physical activity behavior questionnaire that reflected health organizations’ physical activity recommendations and to assess the questionnaire’s test-retest reliability.

By using a quota sampling technique, 200 participants were selected to participate in the first survey, and 117 of them completed the second survey. All respondents were participating in recreational programs provided by the community centers (senior center, residential culture center, lifetime academy, and sports center). Participants ranged in age from 20 to 88 years old (M = 51.83, SD = 21.70). The test-retest repeatability was assessed using Cohen’s kappa statistics.

The kappa score showed good agreement for all items (frequency, intensity, duration, and overall length) related to aerobic, muscular strength, and flexibility activity. The reliability coefficient showed good to high internal consistency throughout. The alpha statistics was 0.658 for questions on flexibility activity participation, 0.666 for questions on aerobic activity participation, and 0.935 for questions on muscular activity participation.

This paper made an important methodological contribution to the assessment of physical activity by showing good test-retest reliability and internal consistency properties for the measurements of physical activity that reflect health organizations’ recommendations for different dimensions, types, and domains of physical activity.