Reliability of the PASE (Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly) in older Greek adults

Abstract

PURPOSE: The determination of physical activity levels in the elderly is very important. Reliable instruments assessing physical activity are widely used in epidemiological large sample studies. The Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE) is a brief and easily scored questionnaire that assess physical activity of people aged 65 year and over. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of the self-report questionnaire Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly conditions (Washburn et al., 1999) in community dwelling Greek older adults without any serious health. METHODS: A sample of 40 participants who volunteered to participate in this study (20 men and 20 women, mean age:74.4 sd:5.2 years) completed twice within a period of 3 weeks the PASE questionnaire which assess their physical activity over the past 7-days. PASE scores were computed following the standard procedure proposed by the authors which includes multiplying “activity weights” by activity frequencies. RESULTS: Test- retest reliability of PASE was r =.82, p<.01. The pearson correlation coefficient (r) was used in this study in order to assess reliability of the repeated measurements CONCLUSIONS: The modified PASE questionnaire can be indicated as a reliable and safe self report instrument of evaluating physical activity in community dwelling Greek older adults.