Evaluation of Worker's Living Activity-time Questionnaire (JNIOSH-WLAQ) primarily to assess workers' sedentary behavior

Abstract

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Japan (JNIOSH) developed a new Worker's Living Activity-time Questionnaire (JNIOSH-WLAQ) which primarily evaluates workers' sedentary behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate the test-retest reliability and criterion validity of the WLAQ. One hundred and thirty eight workers completed the WLAQ twice in one week. During the week, they wore a thigh-worn inclinometer (activPAL) and maintained a daily log as criteria measurements. The WLAQ measures working time, commuting time, daily rest period (DRP), sleeping time, and time spent sitting within the four typical domains of a worker's life: (a) working time, (b) commuting time, (c) non-working time on a workday, and (d) non-workday. We calculated intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) as a reliability value and Spearman's ρ as a validity value. Bland-Altman plots were used to assess any bias. The analysis of WLAQ indicated favorable ICCs (0.72-0.98) for all living activity-times. The WLAQ had "strong" ρ values for working time (0.80) and DRP (0.83), a "very strong" ρ value for commuting time (0.96), and "moderate" ρ values for sleeping time during a workday (0.69) and a non-workday (0.53). As for the sitting time, the WLAQ had "moderate" ρ values for working time (0.67) and non-working time on a workday (0.59), a "strong" ρ value for commuting time (0.82), and a "low" ρ value for a non-workday (0.40). Bland-Altman plots showed a significant fixed bias for sitting time during working time and significant fixed and proportional biases for sitting time on a non-workday. The study showed that the WLAQ has acceptable measurement features, which makes this questionnaire a reliable resource for future epidemiological surveys.