Self-reported pediatric measures of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and strength impact for PROMIS: item development

Children's activity level is commonly assessed in clinical research, but rigorous assessment tools for children are scarce. Our objectives were to improve pediatric activity self-report measures using qualitative methods to develop item pools that measure these concepts. On the basis of the items generated from our conceptual framework development, we applied cognitive interviews and comprehensibility reviews to ensure children readily understood the items. Our methods resulted in 129 unique items-physical activities (80 items), sedentary behaviors (23 items), and strengthening activities (26 items)-that were comprehensible to children between the ages of 8 and 18 years. Comprehensibility review resulted in the deletion of 4 items. The resultant item pools reflect children's experiences and understanding of the concepts of physical activities, sedentary behaviors, and strengthening activities. The item pools will undergo calibration using item response theory to support computer-adaptive test administration of self- and proxy-reported outcomes.