A Novel Video-Based Direct Observation System for Assessing Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Children and Young Adults

Abstract

Purpose: Develop a direct observation (DO) system to serve as a criterion measure for the calibration of models applied to free-living (FL) accelerometer data. Methods: Ten participants (19.4 ± 0.8 years) were video-recorded during four, one-hour FL sessions in different settings: 1) school, 2) home, 3) community, and 4) physical activity. For each setting, 10-minute clips from three randomly selected sessions were extracted and coded by one expert coder and up to 20 trained coders using the Observer XT software (Noldus, Wageningen, the Netherlands). The coder defines each whole-body movement which was further described with three modifiers: 1) locomotion, 2) activity type, and 3) MET value (used to categorize intensity level). Percent agreement was calculated for intra- and inter-rater reliability. For intra-rater reliability, the criterion coder coded all 12 clips twice, separated by at least one week between coding sessions. For inter-rater reliability, coded clips by trained coders were compared to the expert coder. Intraclass correlations (ICCs) were calculated to assess the agreement of intensity category for intra- and inter-rater comparisons described above. Results: For intra-rater reliability, mean percent agreement ranged from 91.9 ± 3.9% to 100.0 ± 0.0% across all variables in all settings. For inter-rater reliability, mean percent agreement ranged from 88.2 ± 3.5% to 100.0 ± 0.0% across all variables in all settings. ICCs for intensity category ranged from 0.74–1.00 and 0.81–1.00 for intra- and inter-rater comparisons, respectively. Conclusion: The DO system is reliable and feasible to serve as a criterion measure of FL physical activity in young adults to calibrate accelerometers, subsequently improving interpretation of surveillance and intervention research.