Background: Health effects of sedentary behaviors (SB) may vary depending on their characteristics such as type, purpose, duration, and intensity of the behavior. While a growing number of questionnaires assess sedentary behaviors, it is unclear which characteristics of SB are measured. The aim of this review was to examine the content of self-report SB questionnaires.
Methods: Three databases were searched for sedentary behavior questionnaires published before January 1st, 2016. Based on the inclusion criteria, 82 articles out of 1369 were retrieved for a total of 60 questionnaires. For each questionnaire, the sedentary behavior characteristics identified were reported and analyzed.
Results: Most of the questionnaires assessed the time (n = 60), posture (n = 54), purpose (n = 46) and the types (n = 45) of SB performed. Fewer questionnaires assessed the environment (n = 20) social context (n = 11), status (n = 2), and associated behaviors (n = 2) related to sedentary behaviors. All the questionnaires except two assessed time spent in SB with 17 assessing frequency and 6 assessing breaks in SB. The most frequent characteristics identified in the questionnaires were the categories of sitting (90%), a day (95%), watching television (65%) and using a computer (55%). Many characteristics of SB were not measured.
Conclusions: By knowing the breadth of SB included in questionnaires, this review provides support to shape the design of new questionnaires designed to reduce the gaps in measuring sedentary behaviors.