title: Validation of the New Zealand Physical Activity Questionnaire (NZPAQ-LF) and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-LF) with accelerometry.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Validation of instruments used to measure physical activity patterns is essential when attempting to assess the effectiveness of physical activity interventions.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the validity of two self-report physical activity questionnaires on a representative sample of New Zealand adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  70 adults aged 18-65 years from around Christchurch, New Zealand were required to wear an ActiGraph GT1M accelerometer during all waking hours for 7 consecutive days. Immediately following the 7 day accelerometer period participants were required to complete the long forms of both the New Zealand Physical Activity Questionnaire (NZPAQ-LF) and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-LF).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both the NZPAQ-LF and the IPAQ-LF questionnaires showed small to moderate correlations with ActiGraph data for time spent in moderate-intensity physical activity (r=0.19-0.30) and total physical activity (sum of moderate and vigorous-intensity physical activity, r=0.30-0.32). In comparison with the ActiGraph data, both self-report questionnaires tended to overestimate activity levels by approximately 165%. Total physical activity levels gathered from both questionnaires were strongly correlated with each other (r=0.79) and showed good levels of agreement in the Bland-Altman plots.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The long forms of the NZPAQ and IPAQ were found to have acceptable validity when detecting participants' ability to meet activity guidelines based on exercise duration, but a significant amount of overestimation was evident. This presents a need for both instruments to be further developed and tested in order to increase validity.
authors.affiliation: Environment Society and Design Division, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Boon
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hamlin
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Steel
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Ross
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult