Evaluation of a two-part survey item to assess moderate physical activity: The cross-cultural activity participation study

Purpose: This study evaluated a two-part survey item that assessed adherence to the national moderate physical activity (MPA) recommendation (≥30 min/day on ≥5 days/week). Methods: Participants were African American (n = 137), Native American (n = 129), and Caucasian (n = 50) women ≥ 40 years from South Carolina and New Mexico, who were participating in a study validating physical activity surveys. The survey item was compared with data obtained from MPA recorded in PA records (min/day), Caltrac accelerometers (Muscle Dynamics, Torrance, CA) (kcal/day), and pedometers (steps/day). Results: Approximately 64% of the participants reported meeting the MPA recommendation on the survey item. Adjusted analyses showed that those who reported meeting the recommendation were more active than those who reported not meeting the recommendation (109.2 vs. 83.9 min/day, 2171.2 vs. 2088.4 kcal/day, and 5795.7 vs. 4797.2 steps/day, respectively; all p < 0.0001). The types of activities recorded in the PA record did not differ by self-reported adherence to the MPA recommendation except for walking (25.2 vs. 14.0 min/day for those who reported meeting vs. not meeting the recommendation, respectively; p < 0.05). A higher proportion of those who reported meeting the recommendation also reported participating in conditioning activities compared with those who reported not meeting the recommendation (31% vs. 19%, respectively; p < 0.05). Conclusions: The two-part survey item can reliably differentiate between higher and lower levels of activity. Those who perceive themselves as meeting the MPA recommendation are, on average, likely to have higher activity levels than those who perceive that they do not meet the recommendation.