Abstract
We present results of initial steps of the psychometric evaluation of a proposed modified version of the Brazilian Household Food Insecurity Measurement Scale aimed at assessing adults' recall of food insecurity at age 12. Data were obtained through self-administered questionnaires from civil servants at university campuses in Rio de Janeiro, who participated in the first and fourth waves of the longitudinal Pró-Saúde Study. We evaluated test-retest reliability (n=58), internal consistency, factor structure, convergent, discriminant validity (n=3,253). Test-retest reliability kappa coefficients were above 0.65; Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.84. Factor loadings were above 0.800. The composite reliability was above 0.90. The square root values of the Average Variance Extracted were positive and statistically significant. Household food insecurity during childhood was strongly associated with larger family size and several sociodemographic conditions at age 12: female head of household, residence in rural area or small town, worse standard of living, and insufficient food due to lack of money. This initial evaluation suggests good performance. Further investigation should include additional psychometric properties and other population contexts.
Highlights
Household Food Insecurity (HFI) has been a recurring theme in national and international scientific literature due to its high magnitude and relevance
The first instrument to address HFI in a broader context was developed in the United States by the Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project (CCHIP)[5]
Questionnaires were self-administered at the workplace, with the support of trained and certified research assistants and supervisors
Summary
Household Food Insecurity (HFI) has been a recurring theme in national and international scientific literature due to its high magnitude and relevance. In 2010, the publication The State of Food Insecurity in the World showed for the first time a decline in the number of undernourished individuals in the world[1]. This number has grown again in 20162, highlighting the importance of this problem in the current world scenario. With the establishment of the Millennium Development Goals, renewed in 2015 through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, whose stated objective 2 is to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture[3], the measurement of household food insecurity (HFI) has become the focus of a large number of epidemiological and governmental studies. It is noteworthy that the development of instruments for measuring HFI and its subsequent cross-cultural adaptations occurred in parallel with the development of short versions for use in large study populations[7,8,9,10]
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