Washburn RA, Zhu W, McAuley E, Frogley M, Figoni SF. The Physical Activity Scale for Individuals with Physical Disabilities: development and evaluation. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2002;83:193-200. Objective: To evaluate the construct validity of a new 13-item physical activity survey designed to assess physical activity in individuals with physical disabilities. Design: Mail survey requesting information on physical activity, basic demographic characteristics, self-rated health, and self-rated physical activity. Setting: In February 2000, surveys were sent to 1176 individuals who had used rehabilitative services at a major midwestern university between 1950 and 1999. Participants: Two hundred twenty-seven men and 145 women with disabilities responded to the mail survey (80%, spinal cord or other locomotor injuries; 13%, visual and auditory injuries; 7%, other; 92%, white; mean age [plusmn] standard deviation, 49.8 [plusmn] 12.9y; mean length of disability, 36.9 [plusmn] 14.9y). Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: Physical activity was assessed with the Physical Activity Scale for Individuals with Physical Disabilities (PASIPD). The PASIPD requests the number of days a week and hours daily (categories) of participation in recreational, household, and occupational activities over the past 7 days. Total scores were calculated as the average hours daily times a metabolic equivalent value and summed over items. Results: Pearson correlations between each survey item and the total PASIPD score were all statistically significant (P [lt ] .05) and [ge ] .20 (range, .20-.67). Factor analysis with principal component extraction and varimax orthogonal rotations revealed 5 latent factors (eigenvalues [ge ] 1, factor loadings [ge ] .40): home repair and lawn and garden, housework, vigorous sport and recreation, light sport and recreation, and occupation and transportation. These 5 factors accounted for 63% of the total variance. Cronbach [alpha ] coefficients ranged from .37 to .65, indicating low-to-moderate internal consistency within factors. Those who reported being [ldquo ]active/highly active[rdquo ] had higher total and subcategory scores compared with those [ldquo ]not active at all.[rdquo ] Those in [ldquo ]excellent[rdquo ] health had higher total, vigorous sport and recreation, and occupation and transportation subcategory scores compared with those who rated their health [ldquo ]fair/poor[rdquo ] (all P [lt ] .05). Conclusion: These results provide preliminary support for the construct validity of the PASIPD. Additional validation studies using an external criterion and in more generalizable samples are warranted. [copy ] 2002 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation