Assessment of physical activity during pandemic periods: Development of the questionnaire, determination of primary validity and psychometric properties (APAP)

In this study, it was aimed to develop the "Pandemic Period Physical Activity Scale" in order to determine the physical activity level of healthy individuals during the pandemic period. The research was conducted between 10.07.2021- 10.06.2022 by applying face-to-face to individuals who met the inclusion criteria around Kırşehir. Ethics committee permission was obtained before starting the study. 583 people who met the criteria for participating in the study were interviewed and the importance and purpose of the study were explained and written consent was obtained from the participants with an informed consent form. Research data were collected from "Socio-Demographic Questionnaire Form", "International Physical Activity Short Form", "Tampa Kinesiophobia Scale", "Coronavirus Anxiety Scale", "Epidemic Disease Anxiety Scale", "Expert Evaluation Form" and "Pandemic Period Physical Activity Scale". Data were analyzed using SPSS 22 and Lisrel 9.1 programs. The significance value was accepted as p<0.05. Mean standard deviation, median, minimum, maximum for numerical variables as descriptive statistics; frequency (n) and percentage (%) values were given for categorical variables. Normal distribution was evaluated with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test. After the literature review and composition study, a draft form was created containing a pool of 325 questions. In accordance with the content validity, the draft form was evaluated by experts with the "Expert Evaluation Form". The content validity of the evaluation form was performed with the Davis technique and the Content Validity Index of each item was calculated. Some items were removed according to the index, and a "Preliminary Application Form" consisting of 58 items was created with expert advice. This form was applied to 221 people representing the sample group. Internal consistency analysis and item analysis were applied to the data obtained as a result of the pre-application. According to the result of the analysis and expert advice, some items were removed and in the final stage, the "Pandemic Period Physical Activity Scale" consisting of 34 questions (30 closed-ended questions; 4 open-ended questions) was formed. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin coefficient of the scale was found to be 0.947 and the Bartlett sphericity test was significant (p<0.001) and it was found to be suitable for factorization. As a result of the Exploratory Factor Analyses, a scale consisting of 3 sub-dimensions and 31 (27 closed-ended questions; 4 open-ended questions) items with an eigenvalue above 1 explaining 61,704 of the total variance was obtained. As a result of Confirmatory Factor Analysis applied to test the model of the scale, it was found that the fit indices χ2/Sd: 2.343; RMSEA:0.048; IFI: 0.955; CFI: 0.954; GFI: 0.912; NFI: 0.923; NNFI: 0.950; AGFI: 0.896; RMR: 0.060; SRMR: 0.047 were at an acceptable level. When looking at the correlation coefficient with similar scales, with the scale of an epidemic of anxiety -0.464 (p<0.001), with coronavirus anxiety scale -0.368 (p<0.001); Kinezyofobi Tampa scale -0.511 (p<0.001) significant negative correlations were detected. For the reliability of the scale, internal consistency analysis was performed and Cronbach's alpha coefficients were calculated. The first factor was 0.953; the second factor is 0.915; the third factor was found to be 0.829. The total Cronbach Alpha coefficient of the scale was found to be quite reliable as 0.912. The in-class correlation coefficient of the scale was found to be highly correlated as 0.958 in the test-retest reliability study; the Cronbach alpha coefficient was calculated as 0.864 in the high reliability study (p<0.001). When the before-post-test correlation values of 27 items were analyzed, it was seen that the values ranged between 0.576 and 0.853 (p<0.001). As a result of the analyzes conducted, it was concluded that the Physical Activity Scale of the Pandemic Period that we developed is a valid and reliable measurement tool that can be used to measure the level of physical activity during the pandemic period. Keywords: Physical Activity, Scale Development, Pandemic, Psychometrics