Validity of the occupational sitting and physical activity questionnaire (OSPAQ) for home-based office workers during the COVID-19 global pandemic: A secondary analysis

• Published in: Applied ergonomics Vol. 97; p. 103551
• Main Authors: Dillon, Kirsten, Hiemstra, Madison, Mitchell, Marc, Bartmann, Nina, Rollo, Scott, Gardiner, Paul A., Prapavessis, Harry
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2021
• Subjects: activPAL; Measurement-of-agreement; OSPAQ; OSPAQ; Measurement-of-agreement; activPAL
• ISSN: 0003-6870; 1872-9126
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2021.103551

High levels of occupational sitting is an emerging health concern. As working from home has become a common practice as a result of COVID-19, it is imperative to validate an appropriate self-report measure to assess sitting in this setting. This secondary analysis study aimed to validate the occupational sitting and physical activity questionnaire (OSPAQ) against an activPAL4™ in full-time home-based ‘office’ workers (n = 148; mean age = 44.90). Participants completed a modified version of the OSPAQ and wore an activPAL4™ for a full work week. The findings suggest that the modified OSPAQ has fair levels of validity in terms of correlation for sitting and standing (ρ = 0.35–0.43, all p < 0.05) and agreement (bias = 2–12%) at the group level; however, estimates were poor at an individual level, as suggested by wide limits of agreement (±22–30%). Overall, the OSPAQ showed to be an easily administered and valid questionnaire to measure group level sitting and standing in this sample of adults.