Abstract
BackgroundAlthough there is growing interest in assessing the home food environment, no easy-to-use, low cost tools exist to assess the foods served at home meals, making it difficult to assess the meal component of the food environment. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a user-friendly screener to assess the types of foods served at home meals.MethodsPrimary food preparing adults (n = 51) participated in a validation study in their own homes. Staff and participants independently completed a screener as participants cooked dinner. The screener assessed the types of foods offered, method(s) of preparation, and use of added fats. Two scale scores were created: 1) to assess offerings of foods in five food groups (meat and other protein, milk, vegetables, fruit, grains), 2) to assess the relative healthfulness of foods based on types offered, preparation method, and added fats. Criterion validity was assessed comparing staff and participant reports of individual foods (kappa (k)) and scale scores (Spearman correlations).ResultsCriterion validity was high between participants' and staffs' record of whether major food categories (meat and other protein, bread and cereal, salad, vegetables, fruits, dessert) were served (k = 0.79-1.0), moderate for reports of other starches (e.g., rice) being served (k = 0.52), and high for the Five Food Group and Healthfulness scale scores (r = 0.75-0.85, p < .001).ConclusionsThis new meal screening tool has high validity and can be used to assess the types of foods served at home meals allowing a more comprehensive assessment of the home food environment.
Highlights
There is growing interest in assessing the home food environment, no easy-to-use, low cost tools exist to assess the foods served at home meals, making it difficult to assess the meal component of the food environment
Studies have shown that compared to foods consumed at home, away-from-home foods are higher in fat and calories [1] and contribute to poorer dietary quality and overweight status [2,3,4,5,6]
Because almost 70% of calories and 80% of snacks consumed by children ages 611 years are eaten in the home [2], developing measures to assess the types of foods served at home meals is an important first step in gaining a better understanding of the influence of the home environment on children’s food intake [20]
Summary
There is growing interest in assessing the home food environment, no easy-to-use, low cost tools exist to assess the foods served at home meals, making it difficult to assess the meal component of the food environment. The importance of the home environment in influencing food intake and weight status has prompted the development of new valid instruments to assess food availability within the home food environment [8,9]. Because almost 70% of calories and 80% of snacks consumed by children ages 611 years are eaten in the home [2], developing measures to assess the types of foods served at home meals is an important first step in gaining a better understanding of the influence of the home environment on children’s food intake [20]. A practical, easy-to-use valid instrument is needed for these assessments as the health promotion field encourages and advocates healthy lifestyle changes for families
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