THE LIFETIME TOTAL PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY QUESTIONNAIRE - DEVELOPMENT AND RELIABILITY

Objective: To develop and test the intra-rater reliability of an inter view-administered questionnaire that assesses lifetime patterns of tot al physical activity including occupational, household, and exercise/s ports activities. Methods: The questionnaire was developed and pretest ed using cognitive interviewing techniques on a sample of women with a nd without previous breast cancer diagnoses. A pilot study was conduct ed with 115 women who were interviewed twice. 6 to 8 wk apart by inter viewers trained in cognitive interviewing methods. Respondents used re call calendars to record their education. occupations, life events. an d physical activity patterns before the interviews. Interviewers helpe d respondents recall their lifetime exposures, including their occupat ional, household, and exercise/sports activities, using these calendar s and memory-probing strategies. Activity levels were estimated as the average number of hours of activity per week over different time peri ods. Means and correlation coefficients were estimated ard compared fo r the two time periods. Results: The questionnaire was found to be hip hly reliable. The test-retest correlations for hours per week spent in total lifetime physical activity was 0.74, for lifetime occupational activity was 0.87 for household activity was 0.77, and for exercise/sp orts activities was 0.72. Conclusions: This is the first questionnaire to measure lifetime physical activity by collecting data on each type of physical activity separately over lifetime and by measuring freque ncy, intensity, and duration of each activity. It is also the first ph ysical activity questionnaire to be developed, refined, and administer ed using cognitive-based methods employed in survey research. Responde nts were able to reliably recall their lifetime physical activity patt erns. This instrument can be used for any disease outcome for which ph ysical activity may be a risk factor.