Criterion-related validity of the short form of the international physical activity questionnaire in adults who are Deaf

Background: To implement appropriate programs for promoting physical activity (PA) in people who are Deaf, it is important to have valid instruments for assessing PA in this population. Objective: The main purpose of this study was to examine the criterion validity of the short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-S) in Deaf adults. Method: This study included 44 adults (18e65 years) of both genders (63.6% were females) who met the inclusion criteria. Objective measures of PAwere collected using accelerometers, which were worn by each participant during one week. After using the accelerometer, the IPAQ-S was applied to assess participants’ physical activity during the last 7 days. Results: There was no significant correlation between the average time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) as measured by the accelerometer (40.1 6 24.5 min/day) and by the IPAQ-S (41.3 6 57.5 min/day). The IPAQ-S significantly underestimated the time spent in sedentary behavior (7.6 6 2.7 h/day vs. 10.1 6 1.6 h/day). Sedentary behavior and MVPA as measured by the accelerometer and the IPAQ-S showed limited agreement. Conclusions: Our results show some limitations on the use of IPAQ-S for quantifying PA among adults who are Deaf. The IPAQ-S tends to overestimate the MVPA and to underestimate sedentary behavior in adults who are Deaf.

Test of Emotion Comprehension: Exploring the underlying structure through Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Similarity Structure Analysis

Some decades of research on emotional development have underlined the contribution of several domains to emotional understanding in childhood. Based on this research, Pons and colleagues (Pons & Harris, 2002; Pons, Harris & Rosnay, 2004) have proposed the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) which assesses nine domains of emotional understanding, namely the recognition of emotions, based on facial expressions; the comprehension of external emotional causes; impact of desire on emotions; emotions based on beliefs; memory influence on emotions; possibility of emotional regulation; possibility of hiding an emotional state; having mixed emotions; contribution of morality to emotional experiences. This instrument was administered individually to 182 Portuguese children aged between 8 and 11 years, of 3rd and 4th grades, in public schools. Additionally, we used the Socially in Action-Peers (SAp) (Rocha, Candeias & Lopes da Silva, 2012) to assess TEC’s criterion-related validity. Mean differences results in TEC by gender and by socio-economic status (SES) were analyzed. The results of the TEC’s psychometric analysis were performed in terms of items’ sensitivity and reliability (stability, test-retest). Finally, in order to explore the theoretical structure underlying TEC a Confirmatory Factor Analysis and a Similarity Structure Analysis were computed. Implications of these findings for emotional understanding assessment and intervention in childhood are discussed.