Evaluation of a pictorial method to assess liking of familiar fruits and vegetables among preschool children

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Research suggests fruit and vegetable (FV) preferences greatly influence on FV intake. Methods for assessing children’s FV preference in a reliable and valid manner are needed. The purpose of this study was to develop a practical, reliable, and valid method for evaluating FV liking among preschool-aged children using photographs. Authors formatively assessed a series of digital FV photographs and hedonic scales to develop content for the liking measure. The measure for assessment included 20 high-quality, digital photographs presenting 13 FVs. A non-gendered 5-point face scale (super yummy to super yucky) was chosen to determine level of liking. We used this measure to establish reliability (i.e., test re-test) and concurrent validity (i.e., photograph versus tasting experience) of the pictorial method. Data were analyzed using Spearman’s Rho Correlation Coefficients and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. The measure demonstrated varying levels of reliability/validity for individual FV items and the fruit scale; however, the vegetable scale and collapsed FV scale were determined to be valid measures. Authors recommended the removal of one weak pictorial fruit item (halved peach) from the fruit and FV scales to improve validity. The final recommended measure included 19 high-quality, digital photographs presenting 12 FVs. The pictorial FV measure and subscales may be useful for assessing FV liking among groups of preschool-aged children within the studied population. Additional research is needed to further validate the use of the pictorial FV measures in a larger, more generalizable sample.