Abstract
BackgroundThe Self-Administered Food Security Survey Module for Children was developed to assess food insecurity of individual children and has not been used in Portugal. We aimed to apply the mixture item response theory model to the Self-Administered Food Security Survey Module for Children, to assess its reliability and validity, and to estimate the cut-offs of the food security status for Portuguese children.MethodsThe scale was self-administered to 2132 children of the Generation XXI birth cohort. The internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. We evaluated dimensionality and/or clustering, and Latent Class Analysis, Latent Trait Analysis and Mixture Latent Trait Analysis were tested. The number of classes and/or traits were defined according to the Akaike Information Criterion, Bayesian Information Criterion, Adjusted Bayesian Information Criterion, Vuong-Lo-Mendell-Rubin Likelihood Ratio Test, Bootstrapped Likelihood Ratio Test and Entropy. Construct validity was explored using socio-demographic characteristics. The classification tree was used to define cut-offs to predict cluster membership.ResultsThe best model was a Mixture Latent Trait Analysis with 1 factor and 2 classes (food security and food insecurity), assuming class variant item parameters (for items 1 and 3). Based on the estimated posterior probabilities, the food insecurity prevalence was 17.6%. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.617. A higher proportion of less-educated mothers and low-income households was observed in the food insecurity class. The classification tree showed an accuracy of 100.0% by identifying the food security and food insecurity groups.ConclusionOur results supported that the Self-Administered Food Security Survey Module for Children provides a valid and reliable measure, which allows the identification of food insecurity among Portuguese children.
Highlights
Food insecurity, defined as “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways” [1], is widely considered a public health concern, and the magnitude of this problem is even more dramatic when is experienced by children
A higher proportion of less-educated mothers and low-income households was observed in the food insecurity class
The classification tree showed an accuracy of 100.0% by identifying the food security and food insecurity groups
Summary
Food insecurity, defined as “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways” [1], is widely considered a public health concern, and the magnitude of this problem is even more dramatic when is experienced by children. The growing interest in food insecurity led to the development of tools that allow the assessment of food security status. Among these tools, the United States Household Food Security Survey Modules (HFSSMs) have been widely used, being subjected to cultural adaptations and used in different socioeconomic and cultural contexts [8]. The 18-item HFSSM assesses the dimension of food insecurity in children [9], it is mainly a household’s measure [10], often reported by the mother or another adult of the household, not using the children’s individual perception. The Self-Administered Food Security Survey Module for Children was developed to assess food insecurity of individual children and has not been used in Portugal. We aimed to apply the mixture item response theory model to the Self-Administered Food Security Survey Module for Children, to assess its reliability and validity, and to estimate the cut-offs of the food security status for Portuguese children
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