CROSS-CULTURAL ADAPTATION, RELIABILITY, AND VALIDATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL PHYSICAL ACTIVITY QUESTIONNAIRE SHORT FORM IN LANGUAGES IN AFRICA: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract

Background: The African population consists of diverse cultures and languages whose first language is not English. To address the challenges of using the English version of the International Physical Activity Short Form (IPAQ-SF), encourage physical activity (PA) participation/research, and curb non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in developing countries in Africa, there is a need for cultural adaptation of the questionnaire.

Aim of the study: This study aimed to conduct a Systematic Review on cultural adaptation, reliability and validation of the IPAQ-SF into African languages and to proffer probable reasons for differences between the versions.

Materials and Methods: We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, and AJO from inception to August 14, 2022. Studies were recruited if they conducted a cultural adaptation, validation and reliability of IPAQ-SF into the African language. The data analysis included descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and Student’s t test using SPSS version 23, and a p<0.05 was used as the level of significance.

Results: A total of 453 healthy adult subjects (Hausa, n = 102 & Yoruba, n = 351) who met the inclusion criteria were documented. The mean age and BMI were 29.3±6.255 years and 24.1±4.335 (kg/m2), respectively. Majority of the subjects were male (n = 293) and single (n = 375) than married (n = 74) and female (n = 160). The reliability and concurrent validity of the Yoruba and Hausa IPAQ were acceptable. The total scores obtained from the concurrent validity in the males in the Hausa (r = 0.844) IPAQ-SF were significant (r = 0.022) and more than that of the Yoruba (r = 0.640) version. The ICC total and female was significantly higher in the Hausa than the Yoruba IPAQ-SF.

Conclusions: Overall, not many studies reported the cultural adaptation of English IPAQ-SF into African languages. Both Hausa and Yoruba IPAQ-SF have acceptable concurrent validity and test-retest reliability for assessing PA. The total score for the concurrent validity male, ICC total and female were significantly higher in the Hausa than the Yoruba IPAQ-SF. We recommend that the English IPAQ-SF be culturally adapted to the Africa languages such as Igbo, pidgin, Swahili, Ajagam, Boki, and Effik.