Development and validation of the physical activity questionnaire for Thai children

Abstract

        Physical activity questionnaire (PAQ) for school children has not yet been established and validated in Thai children. This study aimed to develop a valid and reliable PAQ, and to establish the norms of physical activity level (PAL). Thai children aged 9-12 years were recruited in school settings. Three phases were obtained. The first phase contained data from 1,122 mailed questionnaires for item selection analysis and then the PAQ was developed. The validated phase was done in 179 children who wore the Computer Science Application (CSA) accelerometer as a criterion reference method. The last phase was about setting the norms for PAL, Thai validated PAQ was used in the survey. All together 728 PAQ entries were obtained from surveyed samples using the multistage random sampling technique. Total physical activity (PA) score was calculated based on metabolic equivalent (METs). Regarding validation with criterion reference using CSA, data set was obtained from 68 items. Concurrent validity was shown between PAQ and CSA (Pearson r = 0.40, p<0.001). Discriminant validity indicated that PAQ could classify children who were physically active. The reliability of PAQ, presented by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, was 0.92 and intra-class correlation was 0.76 (p<0.001). Factor analysis showed the predictive value of total PA score 66.9% of the variance. Norms of total PA score were derived from METs per week between 25th percentile corresponding to 310 METs and 75th percentile corresponding to 580 METs. The PAQ showed a good internal consistency and the agreement between PAQ and CSA data showed an acceptable validity and reliability. Therefore, PAQ can be used as a tool to assess PAL of Thai children aged 9-12 years.