Development of the Children and Adolescents Physical Activity and Sedentary Questionnaire (CAPAS-Q): Psychometric Validity and Clinical Interpretation

International audienceBackground: Pediatricians’ clinical practice and health interventions in youths require instruments with adequate psychometric properties to assess physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviors (SB), and their subdomains. Objective: To assess the psychometric properties of the Children and Adolescents Physical Activity and Sedentary-Questionnaire (CAPAS-Q) in healthy French children and adolescents. Methods: The CAPAS-Q has been developed through a rigorous collective procedure and consists of a 31 items self-administered questionnaire evaluating children’s 7-day PA and SB dimensions and subdomains. Participants (n = 103, aged 8–18 years old) completed the questionnaire twice (7 days apart) and wore an ActiGraph GT3X + accelerometer for 7 days. Anthropometric measurements and body composition were assessed. Results: Cronbach alpha for PA and SB dimensions were 0.71 and 0.68, respectively. Reproducibility was found moderate to good, with Lin’s coefficients of 0.69 and 0.68 for PA and SB dimensions, respectively. Reproducibility was higher for adolescents compared to children. PA dimension was positively correlated with moderate PA, vigorous PA, moderate to vigorous PA, and total PA times and negatively correlated with SB time (p < 0.05). SB dimension and screen time were positively correlated with SB time and negatively correlated with LPA, MPA, MVPA, and total PA times (p < 0.05). Spearman correlation coefficients were fair to moderate, ranging between 0.23–0.45. Conclusion: The CAPAS-Q proposes a reliable and valid evaluation of French children and adolescents’ PA and SB, providing clinicians with potential intervention levels to improve youth movement behaviors