Validation and extension of a simple questionnaire to assess physical activity in pre-school children

• Verfasst von: Bayer, Otmar [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Jarczok, Marc N. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Fischer, Joachim E. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Bock, Freia de [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Validation and extension of a simple questionnaire to assess physical activity in pre-school children
• Verf.angabe: Otmar Bayer, Marc Jarczok, Joachim Fischer, Rüdiger von Kries and Freia De Bock
• Jahr: 2012
• Umfang: 9 S.
• Fussnoten: First published online 1 June 2012 ; Gesehen am 22.10.2018
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Public health nutrition
• Ort Quelle: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1998
• Jahr Quelle: 2012
• Band/Heft Quelle: 15(2012), 9, Seite 1611-1619
• ISSN Quelle: 1475-2727
• DOI: doi:10.1017/S1368980012001243
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Sach-SW: Accelerometer
• Sach-SW: Actiheart
• Sach-SW: Heart-rate recording
• Sach-SW: Moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity
• Sach-SW: Sedentary behaviour
• Sach-SW: Sleep period
• K10plus-PPN: 1582157146

Abstract

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.