Measuring diet and activity for weight management

This paper contains a shortlist of practical and validated questionnaires to assess diet and physical activity to help public health practitioners evaluate weight management interventions.

Questionnaires are categorised according to what they measure, either physical activity or diet, and by target group, either children and young people or adults. The paper has been designed primarily for use by public health practitioners working to tackle obesity, but may also be useful for academic researchers working in this area.

It intends to supplement the Standard Evaluation Framework (SEF) as an accessible and practical guide to the measurement of physical activity and diet. The tools contained in the shortlist aim to:

• support people conducting evaluations within a public health setting
• help provide consistency and comparability between evaluation of weight management interventions to strengthen the evidence base
• support the implementation of the SEF.

The assessment tools are based on current best available evidence and highlight the strengths and limitations that need to be considered when making the final selection on which tool to use. The questionnaires can be found in a supplement for the document. Click here to view the supplement.

DOWNLOAD: Measuring diet and physical activity in weight management interventions