title: Development of the European Health Interview Survey - Physical Activity Questionnaire (EHIS-PAQ) to monitor physical activity in the European Union.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A domain-specific physical activity questionnaire (EHIS-PAQ) was developed in the framework of the second wave of the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS). This article presents the EHIS-PAQ and describes its development and evaluation processes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Research institutes from Belgium, Estonia and Germany participated in the Improvement of the EHIS (ImpEHIS) Grant project issued by Eurostat. The instrument development process comprised a non-systematic literature review and a systematic HIS/HES database search for physical activity survey questions. The developed EHIS-PAQ proposal was reviewed by survey experts. Cognitive testing of the EHIS-PAQ was conducted in Estonia and Germany. The EHIS-PAQ was further tested in a pilot survey in Belgium, Estonia and Germany in different modes of data collection, face-to-face paper and pencil interview (PAPI) and computer assisted telephone interview (CATI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The EHIS-PAQ is a rather pragmatic tool aiming to evaluate how far the population is physically active in specific public health relevant settings. It assesses work-related, transport-related and leisure-time physical activity in a typical week. Cognitive testing revealed that the EHIS-PAQ worked as intended. The pilot testing showed the feasibility of using the EHIS-PAQ in an international health interview survey setting in Europe. It will be implemented in all 28 European Union Member States via European Union implementing regulation in the period between 2013 and 2015. This will be a first opportunity to get comparable data on domain-specific physical activity in all 28 EU MS and to publish indicators at the EU level.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The EHIS-PAQ is a short, domain-specific PA questionnaire based on PA questions which have been used in large-scale health interview surveys before. It was designed by considering the respondents' perspective in answering PA questions.
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring, General-Pape-Strasse 62-66, D-12101 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Jonas D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Finger
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute of Public Health (IPH), Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tafforeau
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute of Public Health (IPH), Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Lydia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gisle
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Health Development (NIHD), Tallinn, Estonia.
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Oja
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring, General-Pape-Strasse 62-66, D-12101 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ziese
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring, General-Pape-Strasse 62-66, D-12101 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Juergen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thelen
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring, General-Pape-Strasse 62-66, D-12101 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Gert B M
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Mensink
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring, General-Pape-Strasse 62-66, D-12101 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Cornelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lange
keywords: Europe; European health interview survey; Physical activity monitoring