Abstract
BackgroundComprehensive and psychometrically tested measures of availability and accessibility of food are needed in order to explore availability and accessibility as determinants and predictors of dietary behaviors. The main aim of this systematic review was to update the evidence regarding the psychometric properties of measures of food availability and accessibility among youth. A secondary objective was to assess how availability and accessibility were conceptualized in the included studies.MethodsA systematic literature search was conducted using Medline, Embase, PsycINFO and Web of Science. Methodological studies published between January 2010 and March 2016 and reporting on at least one psychometric property of a measure of availability and/or accessibility of food among youth were included. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed study quality. Existing criteria were used to interpret reliability and validity parameters.ResultsA total of 20 studies were included. While 16 studies included measures of food availability, three included measures of both availability and accessibility; one study included a measure of accessibility only. Different conceptualizations of availability and accessibility were used across the studies. The measures aimed at assessing availability and/or accessibility in the home environment (n = 11), the school (n = 4), stores (n = 3), childcare/early care and education services (n = 2) and restaurants (n = 1). Most studies followed systematic steps in the development of the measures. The most common psychometrics tested for these measures were test-retest reliability and criterion validity. The majority of the measures had satisfactory evidence of reliability and/or validity. None of the included studies assessed the responsiveness of the measures.ConclusionsThe review identified several measures of food availability or accessibility among youth with satisfactory evidence of reliability and/or validity. Findings indicate a need for more studies including measures of accessibility and addressing its conceptualization. More testing of some of the identified measures in different population groups is also warranted, as is the development of more measures of food availability and accessibility in the broader environment such as the neighborhood food environment.
Highlights
Comprehensive and psychometrically tested measures of availability and accessibility of food are needed in order to explore availability and accessibility as determinants and predictors of dietary behaviors
The promotion of healthy dietary behaviors among youth is pivotal for the prevention of overweight/obesity as well as non-communicable diseases [1, 2]; dietary behaviors learned in childhood are found to track into adulthood [3]
Availability and accessibility of foods as potential determinants of food choice and dietary intake are recognized in most up-todate theories aiming to predict and/or explain health behaviors including dietary behaviors
Summary
Comprehensive and psychometrically tested measures of availability and accessibility of food are needed in order to explore availability and accessibility as determinants and predictors of dietary behaviors. A further detailing and specification of social cognitive theory for energy balance-related behaviors including dietary behavior, was proposed by Kremers et al [5] They argue that the influence of such environmental factors –including availability and accessibilitymay be mediated and moderated by individual level, social and demographic determinants such as intentions, preferences, self-efficacy, and social environmental factors such as socioeconomic position, parenting, and modeling. Existing evidence suggests that there is a high variation in the conceptualization of correlates and determinants of dietary behaviors, as well as a common use of measurement instruments whose psychometric properties are not tested [6, 7] These issues are problematic for several reasons. The second is the inability to compare findings across different populations and settings when different measures are used to explore the same correlate
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