Louise C Mâsse1, Judith E de Niet. 1. Dept of Pediatrics, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Over the years, self-report measures of physical activity (PA) have been employed in applications for which their use was not supported by the validity evidence. METHODS: To address this concern this paper 1) provided an overview of the sources of validity evidence that can be assessed with self-report measures of PA, 2) discussed the validity evidence needed to support the use of self-report in certain applications, and 3) conducted a case review of the 7-day PA Recall (7-d PAR). RESULTS: This paper discussed 5 sources of validity evidence, those based on: test content; response processes; behavioral stability; relations with other variables; and sensitivity to change. The evidence needed to use self-report measures of PA in epidemiological, surveillance, and intervention studies was presented. These concepts were applied to a case review of the 7-d PAR. The review highlighted the utility of the 7-d PAR to produce valid rankings. Initial support, albeit weaker, for using the 7-d PAR to detect relative change in PA behavior was found. CONCLUSION: Overall, self-report measures can validly rank PA behavior but they cannot adequately quantify PA. There is a need to improve the accuracy of self-report measures of PA to provide unbiased estimates of PA.
BACKGROUND: Over the years, self-report measures of physical activity (PA) have been employed in applications for which their use was not supported by the validity evidence. METHODS: To address this concern this paper 1) provided an overview of the sources of validity evidence that can be assessed with self-report measures of PA, 2) discussed the validity evidence needed to support the use of self-report in certain applications, and 3) conducted a case review of the 7-day PA Recall (7-d PAR). RESULTS: This paper discussed 5 sources of validity evidence, those based on: test content; response processes; behavioral stability; relations with other variables; and sensitivity to change. The evidence needed to use self-report measures of PA in epidemiological, surveillance, and intervention studies was presented. These concepts were applied to a case review of the 7-d PAR. The review highlighted the utility of the 7-d PAR to produce valid rankings. Initial support, albeit weaker, for using the 7-d PAR to detect relative change in PA behavior was found. CONCLUSION: Overall, self-report measures can validly rank PA behavior but they cannot adequately quantify PA. There is a need to improve the accuracy of self-report measures of PA to provide unbiased estimates of PA.
Authors: Gregory J Welk; Youngwon Kim; Bryan Stanfill; David A Osthus; Miguel A Calabro; Sarah M Nusser; Alicia Carriquiry Journal: Med Sci Sports Exerc Date: 2014-10 Impact factor: 5.411
Authors: Erika Rees-Punia; Charles E Matthews; Ellen M Evans; Sarah K Keadle; Rebecca L Anderson; Jennifer L Gay; Michael D Schmidt; Susan M Gapstur; Alpa V Patel Journal: Med Sci Sports Exerc Date: 2019-01 Impact factor: 5.411