Background: The Physical Activity Readiness Medical Examination (PARmed-X) for Pregnancy aims to facilitate the communication between the health care provider, the fitness professional and the pregnant woman. The purpose of the current study was to test the psychometric properties of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the PARmed-X for Pregnancy.
Methods: Reliability and validity of psychometric properties of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the PARmed-X for Pregnancy were tested in 107 women recruited from the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. Participants completed the first page of the instrument twice with a minimal interval of 1 week for test-retest reliability analysis. The absolute and relative contraindications to exercise on page 2 of the document were completed by the obstetrician.
Results: Results indicated good evidence of construct validity. The isolated items in the PARmed-X document presented a large heterogeneity in kappa coefficients ranging from very low estimates to perfect estimates. The overall indication of prescription of physical activity, nonetheless, presented a good kappa coefficient of 0.749.
Conclusions: The Brazilian Portuguese version of the PARmed-X for Pregnancy can be applied as a valid tool for medical screening by health care providers to help inform safe exercise prescription during pregnancy.
Keywords: exercise; gestation; methods; physical activity.