Self-administered questionnaire compared with interview to assess past-year physical activity.
OBJECTIVE
The Modifiable Activity Questionnaire (MAQ) is a physical activity questionnaire shown to be both valid and reliable and was initially designed to be interviewer-administered. After translation and adaptation into French, the objective of the study was to compare past-year physical activity data obtained by self-administration of this questionnaire and by interviewer-administration.


METHODS
84 subjects (22 men, 62 women, age 36-63 yr) enrolled in an ongoing prospective study in France (the SUpplementation en VItamines et Minéraux AntioXydants or SU.VI.MAX study) completed both versions of the questionnaire in a randomized order with a mean (SD) delay of 7.9 (5.8) d between the two modes. Past-year leisure and occupational physical activity were expressed as both h x wk(-1) and MET-h x wk(-1) of activity, and television watching was expressed as h x d(-1). Analysis of variance on ranks was used to compare activity variables obtained by self-administration and interview. Agreement was assessed by nonparametric intraclass correlation coefficients.


RESULTS
A significant effect of the mode of administration was found only for past-year leisure physical activity with lower values reported in self-administered conditions compared with interview. However, a high level of concordance between the two modes of administration was observed for all variables as shown by the intraclass correlation coefficients: 0.90 for leisure physical activity (h x wk(-1)), 0.82 for occupational activity (h x wk(-1)), 0.83 for total (leisure and occupational combined) physical activity (h x wk(-1)), and 0.97 for television viewing (h x d(-1)).


CONCLUSIONS
The agreement between the two modes of administration of the questionnaire suggests that the self-administered version of the MAQ is a valuable tool to assess past-year physical activity and inactivity in self-administered conditions. This instrument could be used in large-scale population studies investigating the relationships between physical activity and health outcomes.
Vuillemin
A
A
Faculté du Sport, Université Henri Poincaré, Nancy, France.
Oppert
J M
JM
Guillemin
F
F
Essermeant
L
L
Fontvieille
A M
AM
Galan
P
P
Kriska
A M
AM
Hercberg
S
S
D000328:Adult; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009790:Occupations; D010809:Physical Fitness; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires