Development and psychometric properties of the physical activity scale (PAP-SCT) for pregnant women

Although physical activity has many health benefits during pregnancy, few women engage in regular physical activity. The purpose of this study was to test the validity and reliability of a physical activity scale in pregnant women based on social cognitive theory.

A multi-phase scale development method was used to build the scale. To generate a pre-final version of the instrument, face and content validity were measured at the following step. The validation of the instrument was evaluated through a sample of 240 pregnant women. Then, the construct validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and Cronbach’s alpha of the scale were calculated.

In the beginning, a 36-item scale was created by undertaking a qualitative phase. This number was lowered to 24 items after content validity. Seven factors emerged from the exploratory factor analysis (outcome expectations, outcome value, self-efficacy, social support, self-regulation, mutual determinant, and behavior) which accounted for 52 percent of the observed variance. The confirmatory factor analysis revealed a model with a suitable fitness for the data. For the subscales, Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from 0.83 to 0.94, and the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) ranged from 0.80 to 0.88, which is within acceptable limits.

The findings showed that the PAP-SCT is valid and reliable scale that can help us better understand aspects associated to physical activity in pregnant women. As a result, it has the potential to be employed in the future research.