Physical activity assessment in American Indian schoolchildren in the Pathways study

The objective of the Pathways physical activity feasibility study was to de velop methods for comparing type and amount of activity between interventio n and control schools participating in a school-based obesity prevention pr ogram. Two methods proved feasible: I) a specially designed 24-h physical a ctivity recall questionnaire for assessing the frequency and type of activi ties and 2) use of a triaxial accelerometer for assessing amount of activit y. Results from pilot studies supporting the use of these methods are descr ibed. Analyses of activity during different segments of the day showed that children were most active after school. The activities reported most frequ ently (eg, basketball and mixed walking and running) were also the ones fou nd to be most popular in the study population on the basis of formative ass essment surveys. Both the physical activity recall questionnaire and the tr iaxial accelerometer methods will be used to assess the effects of the full -scale intervention on physical activity. Ain J Clin Nutr 1999;69(suppl):78 8S-95S.