Towards a Functional Approach to the Assessment of Daily Life Physical Activity in Children: Are the PAQ-C and Fitbit Flex-2 Technically Adequate?

Fotini Venetsanou, Kyriaki Emmanouilidou, Konstantinos Soutos, Sofoklis A. Sotiriou, Leire Bastida, Ana Moya and Antonis Kambas
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Fotini Venetsanou: School of Physical Education and Sport Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 17237 Athens, Greece
Kyriaki Emmanouilidou: School of Physical Education and Sport Science, Democritus University of Thrace, 69100 Komotini, Greece
Konstantinos Soutos: EllinoGermaniki Agogi, 153 51 Athens, Greece
Sofoklis A. Sotiriou: EllinoGermaniki Agogi, 153 51 Athens, Greece
Leire Bastida: TECNALIA, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), 48160 Derio, Spain
Ana Moya: TECNALIA, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), 48160 Derio, Spain
Antonis Kambas: School of Physical Education and Sport Science, Democritus University of Thrace, 69100 Komotini, Greece

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 22, 1-11

Abstract: Considering the need for functional physical activity (PA) measures in PA settings, this study sought to determine the technical adequacy of the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C) and the Fitbit Flex-2, two instruments with promising features for wide use, using the Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometer as the criterion reference. A total of 218 Greek children (94 boys, 124 girls; mean age = 10.99 ± 1.52 years) volunteered to join in. Participants wore the PA trackers for seven days and completed the PAQ-C. Moreover, a sub-group ( n = 60) recompleted the PAQ-C after a week. Results revealed acceptable internal consistency and excellent test–retest reliability for the PAQ-C. Regarding concurrent validity, weak to moderate correlations with PA parameters recorded by the GT3X+ were revealed for the total PAQ-C and were excellent for the Flex-2, while a Bland–Altman plot indicated good agreement. Finally, in alignment with relevant literature, significant gender, but no age, differences were found in participants’ PA records in all the tools applied. The above results support the use of the PAQ-C and the Fitbit Flex-2 in children. Considering that they shed light into different parameters of children’s habitual PA, their combined utilisation, providing comprehensive information, is strongly recommended.

Keywords: validity; reliability; Actigraph GT3X+; self-report (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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