Short Hebrew International Physical Activity Questionnaire: Reliability and Validity

Background: The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) aims to measure physical activity consistency throughout the world. It has been translated into many languages and its validity has been examined worldwide. However, the IPAQ has not been translated into Hebrew and the psychometric properties of the Hebrew version have yet to be evaluated. Material/Methods: The current study assessed the test-retest reliability of the short IPAQ in Hebrew (IPAQ-S-H) and its validity among college students. Intra-class correlation coefficients were computed to assess reliability, and survey responses were compared to VO2max to determine concurrent validity. Results: The IPAQ-S-H’s test-retest reliability was primarily high, particularly for total physical activity (ICC = 0.90; 95%CI = 0.87-0.93). While agreement for the physical activity components of the survey was higher (ICCs: 0.58-0.79), agreement for sitting time was lower (ICC = 0.39; 95% =0.25-0.52). When comparing the survey scores to VO2max, total physical activity and vigorous intensity activity were significantly correlated with maximal oxygen uptake (Pearson’s r = 0.43 and 0.40, respectively), but not with other survey components. Conclusions: The IPAQ-S-H primarily exhibits moderate reliability and validity, which are comparable psychometric properties to other IPAQ validation studies. Further validation is warranted among more representative samples utilizing objective monitoring to determine criterion validity.