Background:
Assessing past activity in study populations is important in health-related research. This study examined intrasubject stability of a comprehensive, self-administered Historical Activity Questionnaire (HAQ) developed for women, age 18 to 30 y, participating in a larger (N = 153) intervention.
Methods:
Volunteers (n = 31) completed the HAQ at baseline and 6.5 months. Activity, (h/d) and metabolic equivalent (MET)-h/d, was divided into elementary, middle, high school, occupation, athletics, leisure, and exercise impact levels and loading.
Results:
(MET-h/d) cumulative, past activity test–retest was r = 0.76. Highest stability was in total athletic participation (r = 0.82), and impact 3 (r = 0.87). Loading test–retest was r = 0.51.
Conclusions:
The HAQ provides a moderately stable, user-friendly instrument for documenting past activity in young women, particularly for past athletic and high-impact activity recall. The addition of impact and loading activity makes this questionnaire unique, and provides a model for inclusion of these components in other activity questionnaires.
