Assessment of the environmental support for physical activity scale among Thai elderly

Abstract

Introduction : The Environmental Support for Physical Activity Questionnaire (ESPA) was developed for older people in western country. However, due to different geographical features and lifestyle between countries, modification to the ESPA has been made to create “the Thai Environmental Support for Physical Activity (TESPA)”.

Objective : To verify the reliability and validity of TESPA.

Settings : Twelve communities in six provinces of Thailand

Research design : Cross-sectional design.

Patients : Three hundred and twenty older people were randomly selected using multistage random sampling.

Methods : The content validity was determined by three geriatric experts. The construct validity was approached by structural equation modeling and known-group method. The reliability was analyzed using alpha coefficient.

Results : The content validity index of TESPA was 0.92. The construct validity illustrated that the measurement model explained 61% of the variance of TESPA. The internal consistency and the test-retest reliability of the scale were 0.73 and 0.76.

Conclusion : TESPA is reliable, and able to successfully assess the physical environment for elderly in Thai culture.