Reliability and validity of a brief self-report measure of health-related fitness in adults: the Multidimensional Health-Related Fitness Scale.

The individual self-reported health-related fitness items demonstrated acceptable test-retest reliability.

• Intraclass correlations (ICC) for the nine single-item self-reported HRF measures ranged from 0.60 to 0.85.
• The study sample consisted of University of Calgary students and staff (N=129; mean age 28±9 years).
• Data were collected between April and July 2023, with subsets completing a second questionnaire for test-retest assessment.
• Nine items captured participants' self-rated HRF relative to those of the same age and gender.

The Multidimensional Health-Related Fitness Scale (MHFS) demonstrated acceptable test-retest reliability and high internal consistency.

• The MHFS had a test-retest ICC of 0.87.
• Internal consistency was high, with Cronbach's α=0.87.
• The MHFS was constructed by aggregating nine individual self-reported HRF items covering aerobic fitness, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, coordination, agility, and body composition.

Evidence of convergent validity was observed between self-reported HRF measures and self-reported leisure physical activity (LPA).

• Age- and sex-adjusted partial correlations of ≥0.30 were observed between self-reported HRF and LPA.
• Convergent validity was assessed using self-reported leisure physical activity as the comparator measure.

Evidence of concurrent validity was observed between self-reported HRF measures and objective fitness assessments.

• Age- and sex-adjusted partial correlations of ≥0.30 were observed between self-reported HRF and objective fitness measures.
• Concurrent validity was assessed using validated fitness assessments completed by a subset of participants.
• Validity analyses used age- and sex-adjusted partial correlations to control for potential confounders.

Existing self-report HRF measures were identified as potentially limited in sensitivity and validity for younger or healthy adult populations.

• The authors noted that existing self-report HRF measures may lack sensitivity for younger or healthy adults.
• Many existing measures include items with no or poorly defined reference populations, potentially limiting their validity and comparability.
• These limitations motivated the development and testing of the MHFS, which uses same-age and same-gender reference comparisons.