Adaptation and cognitive testing of physical activity measures for use with young, school-aged children and their parents.
BACKGROUND
Increasing physical activity is one way to address the public health concern of childhood obesity. Physical activity measures for use with young, school-aged children are limited.


METHODS
This study adapted two existing activity measures for young children, specifically self-efficacy and 7-day recall of physical activity.


RESULTS
Through expert review and cognitive testing, the scales were adapted for use with young, school-aged children (ages 7-9). This article describes how the measures were adapted to insure comprehension of the child self-report measures. Reliability analyses provide support for their use in this population [Cronbach's alpha = 0.76 for the self-efficacy scale; moderate correlation between parent report and child report of child physical activity over the past week (rho = 0.52, P < 0.01].


CONCLUSIONS
Suggestions are offered for researchers interested in using similar methods when designing and adapting physical activity measures for new populations.
Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA. jleary2@hsc.wvu.edu
Janie M
JM
Leary
Christa
C
Ice
Lesley
L
Cottrell
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology*; D005190:Family; D006801:Humans; D009043:Motor Activity; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012574:Schools; D020377:Self Efficacy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires