Decisional balance for exercise: adaptation of an instrument for older Mexican American women

The purpose of this study was to adapt and test an instrument to measure decisional balance for exercise with older Mexican American women. Items were derived from a Decisional Balance Scale (DBS) developed by Marcus, Rakowski, and Rossi (1992) and a focus group with Mexican American women aged 60 to 86 years. The adapted Spanish-English DBS was administered to 75 Mexican American women (38 exercisers and 37 non-exercisers). A factor analysis yielded a positive and a negative factor. Alpha coefficients were .95 for the positive factor and .79 for the negative factor. Decisional balance for exercise was significantly more positive for the exercisers than for the non-exercisers and was positively related to exercise readiness and habitual activity. The findings suggest that the adapted Spanish-English DBS can be used in exercise and activity research with older Mexican American women.