Development and validation of the Fitness Coaching Behavior Scale: Factor structure, validity and reliability

The purpose of the present research was to develop and provide initial validation of the Fitness Coaching Behavior Scale (FCBS-Fit) designed for assessing perceived the quality of instructor's behaviors in fitness group classes through the theoretical adaptation to the Coaching Model (Cote et al., 1995), originally derived from sports. In total, 618 participants of fitness group classes accepted to participate in this investigation. The purpose of the research was achieved in three phases: (1) development of the item pool and content validation of the preliminary version of the FCBS-Fit (27 items); preliminary examination of the factorial structure through exploratory factor analysis (n(1) = 185) that revealed a scale with 20 items distributed by 4 factors: Technical and Positive Rapport, Exercise Planning and Prescription, Negative Rapport, and Goal Setting; (2) confirmatory factor analysis to the 4-factor model indicated adequate fit model fit, reliability and convergent and discriminant validity. In addition, a multi-group CFA indicated measurement invariance of the factorial structure across samples (n(2) = 210); (3) structural equation model examined criterion validity through analysis of the relationships between the 4-factors of EPCI-Fit and enjoyment in exercise (n(3) = 223). Psychometric evidence suggests that the FCBS could be used as a reliable and valid measure to assess Portuguese participant's perceptions of the quality of instructor's behaviors in fitness group classes.