Questionnaire to assess adherence to diet and exercise advices for weight management in lifestyle-related diseases

BACKGROUND: Lifestyle-related diseases have assumed significant public health problem across the globe including developing nations. High rate of nonadherence to treatment poses challenges to family physicians in its treatment. OBJECTIVE: To develop a valid and reliable questionnaire for assessment of adherence to lifestyle modification advices. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The questionnaire was developed following a systematic, scientifically accepted methodology which included literature review, focused group discussions, detailed interviews, and expert evaluation. Comprehensibility, replicability, face validity, content validity, patient acceptance, and ease of usage of the questionnaire were analyzed. Five-point Likert scale was employed as response options. Cronbach's alpha was calculated to assess internal consistency of overall questionnaire. A cross-sectional survey was then performed on 100 obese patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease to validate the questionnaire. RESULTS: The developed questionnaire consists of 14 questions under two domains, 12 items under diet and 2 items under the physical activity domain. Each of these questions is on a 5-point Likert scale. The tool has shown satisfactory validity. It also has adequate reliability and internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha value of 0.9. CONCLUSION: It is a valid and reliable tool which can be used in clinical practice to assess adherence to lifestyle modification advices by family physicians.