Validity and reliability of a Chinese rating of perceived exertion scale in young Mandarin speaking adults

Abstract

Background

Conclusion

Keywords

Borg 6-20 RPE Scale / Perceived exertion / Psychophysiological tool / Translation

The validity and reliability of the Borg 6-20 rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scale has not been tested among Chinese people from Mainland China. The purpose of this study was to test: 1) The validity of Leung Chinese version and Wang Chinese version of the Borg 6-20 RPE scale; 2) The reliability of Wang Chinese version RPE scale; and 3) The agreement of these two Chinese versions of the RPE scale among young healthy adults from Mainland China.

Methods

A total of 26 subjects (11 males, 15 females; age 22.7 ± 3.0 yrs) volunteered to participate. They performed one (n = 3), two (n = 14), or three trials (n = 9) of the Bruce treadmill protocol test within 9.0 ± 5.1 days (validation trials), and 30.4 ± 27.9 days (reliability trials). Power output, heart rate, oxygen consumption, and RPE were recorded.

Results

RPE was significantly correlated with power output (Leung version rs ≥ 0.75, Wang version rs ≥ 0.73), heart rate (HR) (Leung version rs ≥ 0.84, Wang version rs≥ 0.87), and oxygen consumption (VO₂) (Leung version rs≥ 0.80, Wang version rs ≥ 0.81) (all p < 0.01). The overall test-retest interclass correlation was 0.94 (p < 0.01). No significant differences in correlations (RPE against power output, HR and VO₂) between trials existed for the reliability tests of Wang version scale. No significant differences in correlations (RPE against power output, HR and VO₂) between the two Chinese versions of RPE scale existed.

Both Chinese RPE scales are valid among young healthy Chinese mandarin speaking adults. The Wang scale is reliable, and the Leung and Wang scales show superior agreement with each other.

Authors’ contributions

All authors contributed significantly to the reported research and approved the final version of the submitted manuscript. The authors confirmed that the reported work is original and accurate, and that the manuscript has not been submitted elsewhere.

Submission statement

The manuscript has not been submitted elsewhere.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the University of Massachusetts Boston Institutional Review Board and was registered under approval #2015185. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants before baseline measurements were started and a copy of the signed consent form was given to each participant.

Confilct of interest

We wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication and there has been no significant financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome.

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