Abstract
This study aimed to develop the physical activity questionnaire for pregnant and lactating women (PAQ-PL) and to assess its reliability and validity. The PAQ-PL was developed based on the modification of the previous physical activity questionnaires for pregnant women from Thailand and other countries. The developed PAQ-PL was initially tested to determine the feasibility and acceptability for health care service by interviewing pregnant and lactating women as well as health care service providers. The reliability was assessed by administering the PAQ-PL twice within a 7-day interval (N=212) and the validity was assessed based on the correlation between the PAQ-PL and the accelerometer (N=86) in pregnant and lactating women who visited the Health Promotion Hospital, Health Promotion Center Region 5, Ratchaburi Province. The developed PAQ-PL was in the table format and consisted of 21 items of physical activities (PA) that were appropriate for Thai pregnant and lactating women context. It had good reliability on the time spent (minutes/day) for total PA, moderate-to-vigorous PA (≥3.0 metabolic equivalents, METs), and sedentary- to-light PA (<3.0 METs) [intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC = 0.79, 0.84, and 0.77, respectively (p-value <0.05)]. Its validity was acceptable when used for assessing the time spent on vigorous-to-moderate PA [Spearman’s correlation, rs = 0.21–0.37 (p-value <0.05)]. In summary, the developed PAQ-PL had moderate to good reliability and acceptable validity, especially when considering the assessment of moderate-to-vigorous PA. Hence, it may be feasible to use the PAQ-PL to assess the PA of pregnant and lactating women in the public health service system.
