Reliability and validity tests of the leisure time physical activity questionnaire for people with spinal cord injury

Objective: To examine the criterion validity and test-retest reliability of the Leisure Time Physical Activity Questionnaire for People with Spinal Cord Injury (LTPAQ-SCI), a brief measure of leisure time physical activity (LTPA) for people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design: Survey with a 1-week follow-up.

Setting: General community.

Participants: Men and women with SCI (N=103; mean age ± SD, 48.1±12.7 y; mean years postinjury ± SD, 17.9±11.9) who used a wheelchair as the primary mode of mobility.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main outcome measures: Participants completed the Physical Activity Recall Assessment for People with SCI (PARA-SCI) and the LTPAQ-SCI. A subset of the participants (n=35) completed the LTPAQ-SCI a second time, 7 days later.

Results: Statistically significant, positive correlations emerged between the LTPAQ-SCI and PARA-SCI measures of mild, moderate, and heavy intensity LTPA as well as total LTPA. All 4 intraclass correlation coefficients were significant across the test-retest period.

Conclusions: This study provides preliminary evidence of the criterion validity and reliability of the LTPAQ-SCI as a brief measure of LTPA performed by people with SCI.