Are the Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale (ELCSA) items comparable across countries?

Abstract

We examined the psychometric validity of the 16-item ELCSA in Mexico and Uruguay and assessed the comparability of the scale items across the two countries. ELCSA was recently applied through public opinion surveys in representative samples of Uruguay (N=700), Mexico (N=1560) and Guanajuato, Mexico (N=1199). Within each sample, response patterns were consistent with the Rasch model assumptions. As expected, food security was higher (p<0.05) in Uruguay (66%) followed by Mexico (48.4%) and Guanajuato (34%). The severity order of the items, as measured by the proportion of households affirming each item, was similar in all three samples. Rasch DIF analyses showed that except for the ‘social unacceptability’ item, which was only affirmed by 3 households in Uruguay, the scale items compared well across countries. Conditional correlation analysis suggests that the ‘balanced meal’ child item was somewhat redundant with the child item evaluating the ‘monotony of the diet’ and deserves to be further explored. Analyses are ongoing; however these preliminary results suggest that ELCSA may be suitable for exploring household food insecurity in the Latin American and Caribbean Region.