Reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C)

Abstract

Background/aim: The Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C) is one of the most frequently used questionnairesfor evaluating moderate to vigorous levels of physical activity in children. However, a Turkish version of the questionnaire was notavailable. This study aimed to create a Turkish version of the PAQ-C and examine its psychometric characteristics and factor structure.Materials and methods: The study was conducted with 784 primary school students (ages 9–14 years). The PAQ-C was examined forcontent and construct validity and analyzed in terms of reliability. Content validity was evaluated with the content validity index (CVI),construct validity, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (n = 388), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (n = 396). For reliability analysis,Cronbach’s alpha and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were calculated. The factor construct was assessed with corrected itemtotal correlations (CITCs).Results: The CVI for the PAQ-C was 0.95. EFA revealed a two-factor construct of ‘at school’ and ‘extracurricular’. CFA confirmed thetwo-factor construct. Factor loadings varied between 0.41 and 0.80. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.77 and ICC was 0.91 for the test-retest forthe entire sample. All CITCs were >0.20.Conclusion: The PAQ-C is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used for Turkish children.