Psychometric Properties of the Malay Version of the Goal Content for Exercise Questionnaire among Undergraduate Students at the Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia

BACKGROUND: Understanding the individual aspirations of exercise participation is important for promoting physical activity. However, there is a lack of evidence to validate a measurement instrument for exercise-based goal content among Malaysian populations. The purpose of this study was to determine the validity and reliability of the Malay version of the Goal Content in Exercise Questionnaire (GCEQ) for a sample of Malaysian undergraduates. METHODS: The original English version of the GCEQ underwent forward and backward translation into the Malay language. A cross-sectional study was conducted. The finalised Malay version was administered to 674 undergraduate students at the Health Campus of the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) with a mean age of 20.27 years (SD = 1.35 years). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted for the psychometric evaluation. RESULTS: The measurement model consisted of 20 observed items and five latent factors. CFA demonstrated adequate fit to the data: comparative fit index = 0.929; standardised root mean square residual = 0.052; root mean square error of approximation = 0.061 (90% CI = 0.056, 0.067). The composite reliability coefficients for the five latent factors ranged from 0.777 to 0.851. All the correlations between the factors were less than 0.85, so discriminant validity was achieved. CONCLUSION: The findings suggested that the Malay version of the GCEQ is valid and reliable for assessing goal content in the exercise context of undergraduates at the Health Campus, USM.