Abstract
BackgroundMulticenter studies from Europe and the United States have developed specifically standardized questionnaires for assessing and comparing sedentary behavior, but they cannot be directly applied for South American countries. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of the South American Youth Cardiovascular and Environmental (SAYCARE) sedentary behavior questionnaire.MethodsChildren and adolescents from seven South American cities were involved in the test-retest reliability (children: n = 55; adolescents: n = 106) and concurrent validity (children: n = 93; adolescents: n = 94) studies. The SAYCARE sedentary behavior questionnaire was administered twice with two-week interval and the behaviors were parent-reported for children and self-reported for adolescents. Questions included time spent watching television, using a computer, playing console games, passive playing (only in children) and studying (only in adolescents) over the past week. Accelerometer was used for at least 3 days, including at least one weekend day. We compared values of sedentary time, using accelerometers, by quartiles of reported sedentary behavior time and their sum.ResultsThe reliability of sedentary behavior time was moderate for children (rho ≥0.45 and k ≥ 0.40) and adolescents (rho ≥0.30). Comparisons between the questionnaire and accelerometer showed a low overall agreement, with the questionnaire systematically underreporting sedentary time in children (at least, − 332.6 ± 138.5 min/day) and adolescents (at least, − 399.7 ± 105.0 min/day).ConclusionThe SAYCARE sedentary behavior questionnaire has acceptable reliability in children and adolescents. However, the findings of current study indicate that SAYCARE questionnaire is not surrogate of total sedentary time.
Highlights
Multicenter studies from Europe and the United States have developed standardized questionnaires for assessing and comparing sedentary behavior, but they cannot be directly applied for South American countries
In the reliability study, our sample was composed by 9.3% of the participants from Buenos Aires, 23.0% from Lima, 36.6% from Medellin, 6.8% from Montevideo, 5.0% from Santiago, 17.4% from São Paulo and 1.9% from Teresina; while in the validity study, our sample was composed by 9.1% of the participants from Lima; 10.7% from Medellin; 47.6% from São Paulo and 32.6% from Teresina
The main finding of this study was that the South American Youth Cardiovascular and Environmental (SAYCARE) questionnaire showed acceptable reliability for sedentary behavior time in South American children and adolescents
Summary
Multicenter studies from Europe and the United States have developed standardized questionnaires for assessing and comparing sedentary behavior, but they cannot be directly applied for South American countries. Despite the increased number of sedentary behavior questionnaires worldwide, [1, 3] few have been appropriately validated using psychometric criteria, [4] and those validated questionnaires were mainly developed to evaluate European and American pediatric population [5] In this sense, authors of a recent systematic review argue that tools to measure sedentary behavior should be developed for Brazilian children and adolescents [6]. Valid tools to evaluate sedentary behavior in South American pediatric population are scarce, [3,4,5] a recent systematic review showed only one questionnaire assessing psychometric properties in comparison with objective measure [5] In this sense, in children and adolescents, no self-report or proxy-report sedentary behavior questionnaires are available that are both valid and reliable [5]. High-quality research required into the measurement properties of measurement instruments of sedentary behavior [5, 7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
