The Korean Physical Activity Questionnaire for Elderly (PAQE): Development and Evaluation of Validity and Reliability

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: As individuals age, there is an obvious decline in their physical activity level. Thus, this is an area where an easy to use assessment instrument is needed. But presently, there is no tool that meets this need. In addition, there is no such instrument tailored for the Korean elderly. This study aimed to fill this void by developing a physical activity assessment instrument for this particular population that is easy to use. METHODS: Item collection was performed through a literature review and a survey of 100 elderly individuals residing in a community setting. Items were selected through expert consensus; and the Physical Activity Questionnaire for elderly (PAQE) was created. For validation, 120 community dwelling elderly persons were enrolled. PAQE and an accelerometer were administered to each participant, and the questionnaire was re-administered 2 weeks later. The Spearman rho between the questionnaire and the accelerometer was calculated for concurrent validity. The Cronbach's alpha was calculated for internal consistency. Test-retest reliability was assessed by calculating the Spearman rho. RESULTS: Of the 119 participants, 80.34% were female with the average age being 72.74+/-7.29 years. Energy expenditure measured by the accelerometer was 220.36+/-96.96 kcal/day compared to 368.33+/-257.29 kcal/day measured through the developed questionnaire. Although the Spearman rho between the energy expenditure measured by the accelerometer and calculated through the recreational activity report in the questionnaire was 0.235 (p=0.011), the total energy expenditure was 0.105 (p=0.259) and the energy expenditure by household activity was 0.002 (p=0.983). The Cronbach's alpha was 0.781. The Spearman rho was 0.720 (p<0.001) for test-retest reliability. CONCLUSION: Our findings show that PAQE is a reliable questionnaire, a valid instrument for estimating energy expenditure during recreational physical activity in the Korean elderly person. However, energy expenditure of household activity did not correlate well with the accelerometer. In conclusion, the PAQE questionnaire can be used to assess kinds and frequency of household activities.