Elderly autonomy is mainly evaluated by activities of daily living or functional fitness instruments. Both aspects are scarcely associated. This study describes the development of the Senior Physical Activity Questionnaire (QSAP), which is part of an evaluation system that takes into account the interaction of these factors. It is a four part interview, quantifying elderly needs in terms of strength (FO) and energy production (PA). Part I considers domestic, professional and free-time activities of daily living. Part II evaluates the living context of the subject. Part III is concerned with the difficulties for the activities of daily living, and with the subject's feelings aroused from not practising activities he longs for. Part IV regards the interviewer's point of view about the three former parts. Two partial indices are obtained for each part of the questionnaire: TOT (FO) and TOT (PA). Three general indices are calculated: ITOT (FO), ITOT (PA) and IAE. Questionnaires were applied to 164 Belgians of both sexes, from 60 to 90 years (X = 69.9 ± 7.12). The IAE was defined by: a) principal component analysis for TOT indices; b) first factor scores determination; c) multiple regression between factor scores and ITOT indices; d) standardisation of the regression results by the chronological age. IAE's stability and content validity was tested by: a) comparison with QSAP partial indices; b) comparison with subjects' chronological age; c) cross-validation for a sample of 20 subjects (X = 67.40 ± 5.39 years). Results suggest that: a) the IAE is representative of the QSAP items; b) physical autonomy needs, as quantified by IAE, have a inverse correlation (though poor) with age; c) the regression equation is stable. It is concluded that the QSAC as a whole, and specifically the IAE, show good levels of content validity. However, further studies are recommended to assess the pertinence (criterion and structure related) and the reproducibility of the method, before generalising its application.
Elderly; Questionnaire; Autonomy; Physical activity; Evaluation; Validity; Factor analysis; Multiple regression
