JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Studies show that despite the positive effects of physical activity (PA), most university students are not active enough. For interventions, it is necessary to understand the determinants of PA behaviour. Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) is one of the most widely used frameworks to describe the psychological determinants of health behaviour. Research has shown that in addition to the determinants included in TPB (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control, intention), fear of negative outcomes (e.g., discomfort or pain) is a major barrier to increasing one’s PA. On the other hand, Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has shown promise as a framework for PA intervention.

Objective:

: The purpose of the present study was to create a questionnaire of physical activity determinants based on TPB and complemented by the topic of acceptance from ACT. The questionnaire is thus meant for evaluating the effectiveness of health psychological PA interventions in university students and young adults.

Methods:

The study was carried out using qualitative and quantitative methods and consisted of three phases: 1) elicitation study for item generation; 2) pre-testing for clarity and understanding; 3) item selection using conceptual and psychometric criteria to maximize domain coverage and avoid redundancy.

Results:

A questionnaire covering the core topics of TPB plus acceptance was constructed.

Conclusions:

This questionnaire can assess a range of physical activity determinants and has good psychometric properties. Furthermore, the questionnaire was created in such a manner that it can be used for TPB-based interventions but also the acceptance component of an ACT intervention, aimed at increasing physical activity levels.