EVALUATION OF THE REVISED PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY READINESS QUESTIONNAIRE IN OLDER ADULTS

Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PARQ) clearance has been re commended prior to low-to-moderate exercise involvement. The measure, however, appears to exclude a high proportion of older adults due to f alse positive responses. To improve this situation, a revised PARQ was developed (rPARQ). The purpose of this study was to compare the numbe r of exclusions resulting from the PARQ and rPARQ in 60- to 69-yr-old adults. Participants were recruited from Community Nutrition Centers ( 97 males, 96 females; mean age = 64.82 yr, SD +/- 2.85). At random, ha lf completed the PARQ or rPARQ on day 1 and the respective opposite in strument on day 2. There was a significant decrease in the number of e xclusions resulting from the PARQ as compared to the rPARQ (146 to 128 , P < 0.001). Percentage of agreement regarding exclusion/inclusion st atus between the two measures was 87.6% (kappa = 0.71). Responses for the six matched questions were significantly (P < 0.0001) related with contingency and phi coefficients ranging from 0.40 to 0.58 and 0.43 t o 0.71, respectively. These results support the concurrent validity of the rPARQ and suggest the revisions have had their intended effect.