Introduction

Physical activity level during pregnancy is unknown in Middle Eastern and North African countries, since no valid tools assessing it exist in Arabic. The aim of this study is to culturally adapt and translate to Arabic an internationally validated instrument, the Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ), and to measure the physical activity of pregnant women using the adapted PPAQ, Arabic version. This tool is time-sparing, self-administered and is the only one taking into account childcare and household chores.

Methods

After following the guidelines for translation and back-translation by certified translators, a committee composed of professionals in the field reviewed each item of the PPAQ, for its comprehensibility. This Arabic version of the PPAQ was tested on a sample of 179 pregnant Lebanese women, from different educational backgrounds, socioeconomic status and gestational ages.

Results

Cross-cultural adaptations were applied on the newly translated PPAQ in Arabic version, thus questions referring to some types of outdoor activities were excluded from the final format. Our results reported that 51% and 1.7% of women engage respectively in light and high intensity physical activity, while 18% had a sedentary lifestyle. Occupational type of activities were significantly more performed by women having a higher education (p value 0.001), as opposed to those who attended only high school, who were physically more active in household activities (p value 0.038). Second trimester was a period where pregnant women were active for household, caregiving (p value 0.031), whereas women in their third trimester were physically more active in occupational activities (p value 0.001). Sport-oriented activities were performed by women reporting a good physical status (p value 0.03). Age and crowding index were significantly correlated with occupational, household and caregiving activities (p values 0.004, 0.008 respectively). No significant correlations were observed with pre-gestational body mass index and the physical activity levels.

Conclusion

A valid tool will help researchers in Arab countries identify physical activity levels of pregnant women and consequently emit specific guidelines relative to the importance and the benefits of a daily active lifestyle throughout gestation.

中文翻译：

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怀孕体育活动问卷（PPAQ）：阿拉伯语版本的翻译和跨文化改编。

介绍

在中东和北非国家，怀孕期间的身体活动水平未知，因为阿拉伯语中没有有效的评估活动的工具。这项研究的目的是在文化上适应国际公认的手段，将怀孕的身体活动量表（PPAQ）转换为阿拉伯语并将其翻译成阿拉伯语，并使用改编的阿拉伯版本的PPAQ来测量孕妇的身体活动。该工具省时，可自行管理，并且是唯一考虑到托儿和家务的工具。

方法

在遵循由认证翻译人员进行的翻译和反向翻译的指南之后，由该领域的专业人士组成的委员会对PPAQ的每个项目进行了审核，以了解其含义。PPAQ的阿拉伯语版本在179名来自不同教育背景，社会经济地位和胎龄的黎巴嫩孕妇中进行了测试。

结果

在新翻译的阿拉伯语版本的PPAQ上采用了跨文化的改编，因此最终格式中排除了涉及某些户外活动的问题。我们的研究结果表明，有51％和1.7％的女性分别从事轻度和高强度的体育锻炼，而18％的女性则久坐。受过高等教育的妇女从事的职业类型活动明显更多（p值0.001），而那些只参加高中的妇女则更加从事家庭活动（p值0.038）。孕中期是孕妇从事家庭照料活动的时期（p值为0.031），而孕晚期的妇女在身体上较活跃的从事职业活动（p值为0.001）。体育活动是由报告身体状况良好的妇女进行的（p值为0.03）。年龄和拥挤指数与职业，家庭和护理活动显着相关（p值分别为0.004、0.008）。与孕前体重指数和体育锻炼水平没有显着相关性。

结论

一个有效的工具将帮助阿拉伯国家的研究人员确定孕妇的身体活动水平，并因此针对妊娠期间每天积极生活方式的重要性和益处发布具体的指南。