Reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Physical Activity Barrier Scale for people who are blind or visually impaired

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Physical Activity Barrier Scale (PABS) for visually impaired individuals. Methods: People with visually impaired, low vision (n=53) and blind people (n=84), a total of 137, were participated in the present study. The physical activity barriers of the participants were evaluated with the PABS. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-Long Form) was used to determine the physical activity level of the participants. Internal consistency was determined by using Cronbach’s alpha and test-retest reliability was determined by using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Results: The mean age of the participants was 43.03±13.75 years and the mean body mass index was 26.11±4.77 kg/m 2 . Cronbach’s alpha for the PABS was 0.933 for the test and 0.894 for the re-test measurements. The test-retest ICC values of the PABS varied between 0.563 and 0.950. The mean physical activity level of the participants was found as 4049.43±4956.59 METXminutes/week. There was no statistically significant correlation between the total scores of the PABS and the IPAQ (p>0.05). Conclusion: There is currently no specific questionnaire regarding physical activity and its barriers for visually impaired individuals in Turkey. The study showed the reliability of the Turkish version of the PABS for individuals with visual impairment.