Reliability and validity of the ONAPS physical activity questionnaire in assessing physical activity and sedentary behavior in French adults

This study was conducted to assess the validity and reliability of a new questionnaire, the ONAPS-PAQ, developed to assess physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviors (SB) in the general population. A total of 137 healthy adults aged 18 to 69 years were included. Following completion of two physical activity questionnaires (ONAPS-PAQ and GPAQ, the Global physical activity question-naire) to study concurrent validity, participants wore an accelerometer (UKK-RM42) for 7 days to study criterion validity. A subsample (n = 36) also completed a 7-day-interval test–retest protocol to assess its reliability. Reliability was tested by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Kappa coefficient; concurrent and criterion validity by the Spearman correlation coefficient (ρ) and Bland-Altman plot analyses. The ONAPS-PAQ showed good reliability (ICC = 0.71–0.98; Kappa = 0.61–0.99) and concurrent validity (ρ = 0.56–0.86), but only poor criterion validity (ρ = 0.26–0.41), and wide limits of agreement. Self-reported and accelerometer-measured SB were better correlated with ONAPS-PAQ than GPAQ (0.41 vs. 0.26, respectively) and medians were comparable, whereas the GPAQ underestimated SB (SB_acc = 481 (432–566), SB_ONAPS = 480 (360–652), SB_GPAQ = 360 (240–540) min·day⁻¹; median (q1-q3)). The ONAPS-PAQ provides good reliability and acceptable validity for the measurement of PA and SB and seems to provide a better assessment of SB than GPAQ.