Translation, cultural adaptation and validity of the Adolescent Sedentary Activity Questionnaire among school children aged 14-15 years

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Sedentary behaviour is a risk factor for several diseases. Validation of questionnaires on sedentary activity is a great challenge. OBJECTIVES: To translate, culturally adapt and validate the Adolescent Sedentary Activity Questionnaire (ASAQ) among school children. METHODS: Back translation method was used to translate ASAQ into Sinhala language (ASAQ-S). Cultural adaptation and judgmental validity were ensured using a panel of experts. Criterion validity was assessed by comparing ASAQ-S data with the reference standard, which was the ActiGraph GT1M accelerometer worn on the waist. The study population consisted of 42 school children aged 14-15 years. Sedentary activity time was taken from the accelerometer recorded data as total hours per day. The ASAQ-S has 14 items and then total sedentary time was calculated by summing up the activities of all seven days. Intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. RESULTS: The average sedentary time was 11.7 (SD=3.4) hours per day recorded by an accelerometer and from the ASAQ-S 9.0 (SD=2.3) hours per day. An ICC for total sedentary activity time between the accelerometer and ASAQ-S was 0.52 (95% CI=0.08, 0.78) and Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.55 (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The validity of ASAQ-S was satisfactory and can be used as a tool to assess adolescent sedentary behaviour. KEYWORDS: Adolescence, Cultural, Questionnaire, Reliability, Sedentary, Validity