Translation of the international physical activity questionnaire to Maltese and reliability testing

Abstract

The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) is a widely used self-reported physical activity (PA) measure developed to allow for international cross-country comparisons. Due to its unavailability, the aim of this study was to translate the IPAQ-long to Maltese and undertake reliability testing. The IPAQ-long English version was translated into Maltese following the IPAQ guidelines, which included backwards translation. Maltese-speaking participants, aged between 18 and 69 years, were recruited through convenience sampling (n = 170). Participants completed the IPAQ-long twice within an 8- to 48-hr period. PA was calculated in MET minutes per week, and reliability was calculated using the Spearman correlation, intraclass correlation coefficient, concordance correlation coefficient, and Bland–Altman plots. A total of 155 participants completed the questionnaire at two time points. Spearman correlation was .83 (.76–.88) for total PA and .84 (.77–.89) for total sitting time. The intraclass correlation coefficient was .83 (.76–.88) and the concordance correlation coefficient was .75–.87 for total PA. The lowest reliability was for total transport, with a concordance correlation coefficient of .21−.45. Bland–Altman plots highlight that 95% of the differences fell within 2 SDs from the mean. Since the Maltese IPAQ-long has similar reliability to the English version, the authors recommend that health care professionals and PA practitioners use this tool when examining population-level PA among Maltese-speaking individuals.