Background: The benefits of physical activity have been largely demonstrated in healthy subjects and people with chronic diseases. Particularly, in stroke survivors, increasing physical activity and decreasing sedentary time is one of the main strategies to manage the long-term rehabilitation. Therefore, it is essential to assess the physical activity levels in stroke survivors and to develop interventions to promote an active lifestyle.  The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) is a questionnaire frequently used in healthy subjects and different patient groups. However, this questionnaire has not been validated in African francophone countries, where there is a lack of valid, reliable and accessible tools to assess physical activity. Recently, we have examined the applicability of this questionnaire in Africa francophone region context. As result, cultural and linguistic adaptations of the items in Benin context led to the creation of an experimental Africa francophone version of the IPAQ Long-Form named IPAQ-AF.

Purpose:  To investigate the convergent validity and the test-retest reliability of IPAQ-AF in healthy subjects and people with stroke in Benin.

Methods: Sixty healthy subjects and 60 individuals with stroke (77 males; mean age: 52.7±11.7 years old) were recruited in Benin, a West Africa francophone country. In addition to a 7-day activity monitoring from waking up in the morning to bedtime using a wrist-worn device, participants completed the interview-based IPAQ-AF. The IPAQ-AF was completed twice over two days for test-retest reliability that was assessed through intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). For convergent validity, Spearman correlation coefficients (r) were calculated between IPAQ-AF scores and 7-day steps respectively for total sample, and by subgroups (healthy subjects, and individuals with stroke, separately).

Results: The IPAQ-AF showed excellent correlation with daily steps for total sample (r=0.96; p <0.001), in healthy subjects (r=0.94; p <0.001), and in the individuals with stroke (r=0.91; p <0.001). Also, IPAQ-AF demonstrated excellent test-retest reliability in the 3 groups with ICC > 0.95 (p <0.001).

Conclusion: These results suggest that IPAQ-AF is a valid and reliable measure of physical activity in healthy subjects and people with stroke in Benin. Similar studies are needed in other Africa francophone countries to confirm the use of IPAQ-AF in these countries.

Implications: This project makes available a valid, reliable and accessible tool to measure the physical activity level of individuals in Benin. The use of this questionnaire will help Beninese health professionals, including physiotherapists to adjust interventions to promote an active lifestyle as needed, particularly in people with stroke.

Keywords: Stroke, Physical activity, Questionnaire measurement properties.

Funding acknowledgements: We thank the Canadian Francophone Scholarship Program and the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration which supported this work.

Ethics approval: N°2017-581 of the Research Ethics Committee of Centre Intégré Universitaire de Santé et de Services Sociaux de la Capitale Nationale (CIUSSS-CN) Quebec (Qc) Canada, and ethics approval from local participating rehabilitation centers.