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Table 2 Weaknesses and improvement plans associated with determinant areas

From: Development and initial validation of the determinants of physical activity questionnaire

Determinant area

Weaknesses

Improvement plans

Environmental context and resources

Internal consistency reliability poor

Amended determinant label to represent ‘environmental resources’ only. Added 2 additional items to reflect accessibility of facilities, safety, and aesthetic factors

Skills

Internal consistency reliability poor

Added three items to encompass a broader range of skills associated with specific physical activities

Social influences

Internal consistency reliability poor

As descriptive norms, personal norms and perceived social support were represented in the final model under the same factor, four items representing these sub-areas of social influences were added to assess each type more accurately.

Beliefs about consequences

Internal consistency reliability poor

Included an item that assesses only ‘physical outcome expectations’ in order to avoid overlap with other determinants, such as ‘social influences’ and ‘beliefs about capabilities’. Included two items to assess perceptions of negative consequences of physical activity

Emotion

Discriminant validity with ‘motivation and goals’ poor

New items tap emotional antecedents of physical activity. Using ‘anxiety’, ‘stress’, ‘negative affect’, and ‘fear’ constructs outlined in the ‘emotion’ determinant from the Michie et al. framework, four items were developed to assess emotions that may influence a person’s decision to participate in physical activity.

Coping planning

Internal consistency reliability poor in sample 2, discriminant validity with ‘action planning’ and ‘goal conflict’ poor

The resulting three items represented proactive coping, reflective coping, and preventive coping. As these items were almost consistently reaching an acceptable level of reliability, and discriminant validity was questionable, three more items were developed to encompass proactive, reflective, and preventive coping, whilst attempting to distinguish them further from the action planning and goal conflict subscales.