Reproducibility and relative validity of the short questionnaire to assess health-enhancing physical activity

• Published in: Journal of clinical epidemiology Vol. 56; no. 12; pp. 1163 - 1169
• Main Authors: Wendel-Vos, G.C.Wanda, Schuit, A.Jantine, Saris, Wim H.M., Kromhout, Daan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.12.2003; Elsevier; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Accelerometer; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Compliance; computer-science; Correlation coefficient; Epidemiology; Exercise; Female; General populations; Guideline; Households; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Mens health; Middle Aged; Physical activity; Prevention and actions; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Questionnaire; Relative validity; reliability; repeatability; Reproducibility; Reproducibility of Results; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Validity; Vegetables; Relative validity; Accelerometer; Guideline; Questionnaire; Physical activity; Reproducibility; Physical exercise; Human; Evaluation; Validity; Public health
• ISSN: 0895-4356; 1878-5921
• DOI: 10.1016/S0895-4356(03)00220-8

The purpose of this study is to determine reproducibility and relative validity of the Short QUestionnaire to ASsess Health-enhancing physical activity (SQUASH). Participants (36 men and 14 women, aged 27–58) were asked to complete the SQUASH twice with an inbetween period of approximately 5 weeks. In addition, participants wore the Computer Science and Applications (CSA) Activity Monitor for a 2-week period following the first questionnaire. The Spearman correlation for overall reproducibility of the SQUASH was 0.58 (95%-CI 0.36–0.74). Correlations for the reproducibility of the separate questions varied between 0.44 and 0.96. Spearman's correlation coefficient between CSA readings and the total activity score was 0.45 (95%-CI 0.17–0.66). In conclusion, the SQUASH is a fairly reliable and reasonably valid questionnaire and may be used to order subjects according to their level of physical activity in an adult population. Because the SQUASH is a short and simple questionnaire, it may proof to be a very useful tool for the evaluation of health enhancing physical activity in large populations.