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Foundational Research

Research on the YAP
The Youth Activity Profile (YAP) is a self-report instrument designed to facilitate the collection of physical activity in schools (for both assessment and education purposes). The instrument was developed by our team and calibrated through a series of studies led by a former Ph.D. student (Dr. Pedro Saint-Maurice) as part of his dissertation research. The innovative aspect of the Youth Activity Profile is that the items are calibrated to provide accurate estimates of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior. The figure below shows the concept of calibration and the overall level of agreement for assessing PA in different segments of the day. 
  1. Welk, G. J., Saint-Maurice, P. F., Kim, Y., Ellingson, L. D., Hibbing, P., Wolff-Hughes, D. L., & Perna, F. M. (2017). Understanding and interpreting error in physical activity data: insights from the FLASHE study. American journal of preventive medicine, 52(6), 836-838.
  2. Saint-Maurice, P. F., Kim, Y., Hibbing, P., Oh, A. Y., Perna, F. M., & Welk, G. J. (2017). Calibration and validation of the Youth Activity Profile: the FLASHE study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 52(6), 880-887.
  3. Saint-Maurice, P. F., Welk, G. J., Bartee, R. T., & Heelan, K. (2016). Calibration of context-specific survey items to assess youth physical activity behaviour. Journal of Sports Sciences, June 1-7.
  4. Saint-Maurice, P. F., Kim, Y., & Welk, G. J. (2016). Evidence for data missing at random in youth physical activity monitoring research. Journal of Sports Sciences, April: 1-7.
  5. Saint-Maurice, P. F., Kim, Y., Welk, G. J., & Gaesser, G. A. (2016). Kids are not little adults: what MET threshold captures sedentary behavior in children? European Journal of Applied Physiology, 116(1), 29-38.
  6. Saint-Maurice, P. F., & Welk, G. J. (2015). Validity and Calibration of the Youth Activity Profile. PloS one, 10(12).
  7. Saint-Maurice, P. F., Welk, G. J., Beyler, N. K., Bartee, R. T., & Heelan, K. A. (2014). Calibration of self-report tools for physical activity research: the Physical Activity Questionnaire (PAQ). BMC Public Health, 14(1), 461. PMID: 24886625

Ongoing Calibration Research

 An online version of the YAP was developed to facilitate use by schools and an NIH funded study by the lab replicated the calibration process with the online tool. The new online version provides updated calibration equations using a larger and more diverse sample and more robust prediction models. The focus of the research was on evaluating the utility for school-based applications. Observed errors for estimating time spent in physical activity and sedentary behavior were 15-25% for the different school based settings with good consistency across schools. Results for the different segments are in the figures below. Details on the ongoing research on the YAP are available at www.yapresearch.org.

OnLine Version of the YAP

The online version of the YAP is available through the FitnessGram program but more specific research and surveillance applications are being conducted in collaboration with the national Active Schools initiative. ​Visit the online tool at www.youthactivityprofile.org to learn more. Additional information is also available from Dr. Greg Welk (gwelk@iastate.edu.