The Reliability and Validity of the Physical Activity Survey in Long-Term Care

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a measure of physical activity for residents in long-term-care facilities, the Physical Activity Survey in Long-Term Care (PAS-LTC). Sixty-six activities are included in the PAS-LTC: routine physical activity, personal-care activities, structured exercise, recreational activities, caretaking activities, and repetitive activities. The study included 13 residents in a long-term-care facility, most of whom were women (62%), with an average age of 84 years (+/- 6.0) and an average Mini Mental State Examination score of 6 (+/- 6.9). There was evidence of interrater reliability of the PAS-LTC with intraclass correlations of .83-.94. There was some evidence of validity of the measure with statistically significant correlations between PAS-LTC recorded during the evening and night shifts and the number of counts of activity per the ActiGraph (r = .60 and r = .57, respectively, p < .05) and the calories estimated (r = .58 and r = .60, respectively, p < .05). The PAS-LTC completed during the day shift and total activity based on the PAS-LTC showed nonsignificant correlations of .40 or greater with the ActiGraph activity counts and calories.