Measurement tools

We need reliable and valid ways of measuring people’s weight status, physical activity and eating patterns. This contributes to an overall picture of population health in general, and specifically assists in evaluating the effectiveness of policies and program interventions.

Workplace health survey
In collaboration with Western Sydney Local Health District, PANORG is developing and trialling methods for surveying workplaces about their health-related policies and practices. The survey includes questions about employers’ approaches and attitudes to workplace health, as well as their programs and facilities and the composition of their workforce. They survey is being trialled with large medium and small workplaces in Parramatta.

Obesity Prevention Monitoring Framework

A Framework for Monitoring Overweight and Obesity in NSW provides a good overview of methods for measuring weight status, physical activity, sedentary behaviours, food consumption and eating patterns. View report

Specific measures

PANORG and the PRC have specialised expertise in particular measures:

* APARQ
* ASAQ
* Active Australia questions, IPAQ etc
* Accelerometry
* Short nutrition questions

More detailed information on measures is also available:

* Measures of children’s physical activity and sedentary behaviours is available on the ACAORN website. See website

Suggested references:
Dollman J, Okely AD, Hardy L, Timperio A, Salmon J, Hills AP. A hitchhiker’s guide to assessing young people’s physical activity: deciding what method to use. J Sci Med Sport 2009, 12(5): 518-525

Adolescent Physical Activity Recall Questionnaire (APARQ)
Booth ML, Okely AD, Chey TN, Bauman A. The reliability and validity of the Adolescent Physical Activity Recall Questionnaire. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2002; 34: 1986-1995.

Adolescent Sedentary Activities Questionnaire (ASAQ)
Hardy LL, Booth ML, Okely AD. The reliability of the Adolescent Sedentary Activity Questionnaire (ASAQ). Prev Med 2007; 45: 71-74 [View]

Nutrition short questions
Flood V, Webb, K, Rangan A. Recommendations for short questions to assess food consumption in children for NSW Health Surveys, 2005. Available at [http://www.cphn.mmb.usyd.edu.au]


Food community and consumer environments
Boylan S, Innes-Hughes C, Lobb E and King L. (2011) Measuring rural food environments within Murrumbidgee Health Network, NSW: Methodology. PANORG; Sydney.


* Measures of adults’ physical activity and sedentary behaviours is available on CPAH website. See website