A COMPARISON STUDY OF THREE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY MEASUREMENT TOOLS EXAMINING ACCEPTABILITY IN PEOPLE WITH PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS

Background: People with psychotic disorders die more than 16 years younger than the general population, in part due to lack of exercise and sedentary behaviour. There has been limited testing of the acceptability and validity of physical activity measures among people with psychotic disorders. Objectives: This study aims to compare the acceptability of three distinct physical activity measurement tools in people with psychosis: an objective measurement tool, a self-report measure and an exercise capacity test. Methods: A total of 69 individuals with primary diagnoses of psychotic disorders were recruited. Each participant was given a GENEactiv wrist-worn accelerometer to wear day and night for the next 7 days. On day 8, another face-to-face assessment was conducted to administer the self-reported Simple Physical Activity Questionnaire and the six-minute walk test. We also asked participants to rate the ease or difficulty of completing these measures using a seven-point Likert-type scale. Findings: Sixty-six per cent (46/69) of participants completed all three assessment tools and 60.9% (42/69) completed the acceptability questionnaire. Most participants found it easy to complete all three measurement tools. The majority of the participants (52.8%) ranked the objective measurement tool as the easiest to use. Conclusions: All three measures were acceptable to people with psychosis, but objective measurement tools may be easier to use.