Validity of the Seven Day Recall of Exercise Questionnaire (7-DREQ)

Practical, field-based methods for accurately assessing rates of exercise are needed. The purpose of this study was to establish concurrent validity of the 7-Day Recall of Exercise Questionnaire (7-DREQ) among adults. The instrument asks subjects to report moderate and vigorous intensity physical activities by day, mode, and duration. Behavior based definitions of moderate and vigorous physical activity, as well as lists of activity examples, are provided to increase the accuracy of recall. A random sample (n = 105) of non-faculty, professional and administrative staff from a large Midwestern university were contacted; 58 volunteers agreed to participate. Upon enrolling in the study, an Actical accelerometer was calibrated to each participant in a laboratory setting. Participants were then asked to wear the Actical accelerometer for 7 consecutive days. Subjects were asked to engage in their regular lifestyle activities during this time period. They did not know that they would be asked to recall their bouts of activity one week later. On the eighth day participants completed the 7-DREQ for moderate and vigorous exercise in a laboratory setting. Pearson product moment correlations were computed between the weekly minutes of moderate and vigorous exercise recorded by the Actical accelerometer and the weekly minutes of moderate and vigorous exercise recorded by the participants on the 7-DREQ. Cut-off points used in this study for moderate (1952, 3.0-6.0 METs) and vigorous (5725, ≥6.0 METs) activity counts were based on the study by Freedson. Results revealed a significant correlation (r=.78,p<0.05) between weekly minutes of vigorous exercise recorded on the 7-DREQ and weekly minutes exercise recorded by the Actical accelerometer. A significant (r=.40,p<0.05) but lower correlation was revealed for weekly minutes of moderate exercise. About 70% of the reported bouts of vigorous exercise were verified by the Actical as were 36% of the moderate exercise bouts. The results support concurrent validity of the 7-DREQ. Additional instrument refinement is needed to help subjects accurately recall and rate moderate intensity exercise bouts. It appears that many moderate intensity exercise bouts were not verifed by Actical due to subject overestimation of the intensity of these activities.