Reliability of questionnaire The International Fitness Scale: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic literature review and meta-analysis to investigate the reliability of The International Fitness Scale questionnaire for assessing overall physical fitness and related components. METHODS: PubMed(®), BIREME, SciELO, EMBASE, SPORTDiscus, LILACS and Cochrane databases were searched using the following search terms: “The International Fitness Scale”, “International Fitness Scale” and “IFIS”. Article selection and data extraction were performed according to the following eligibility criteria: reliability and/or validity study of the measure tools of The International Fitness Scale; adoption of the The International Fitness Scale as a reference criterion (gold standard) and being an original article. Quality of the study was considered based on Assessment of Reliability Studies. Data analysis used Kappa coefficient of agreement, Cochran and the Higgins I(2) test. Sensitivity analysis was conducted using the withdrawal model. RESULTS: A total of seven articles were included in the analysis. Test-retest reliability coefficients ranged from 0.40 to 0.99, with most studies achieving values ≥0.60, indicative of moderate to substantial reliability. CONCLUSION: In spite of appropriate test-retest scores attributed to most reliability indicators, heterogeneity among the studies remained high. Therefore, further studies with low risk of bias are needed to support the reliability of the self-reported The International Fitness Scale.