Reliability and Validity of an Online Questionnaire to Measure Food Literacy in Primary School Children

Abstract

Food literacy is a term used to describe the knowledge, skills and behaviors needed to achieve a healthy and environmentally friendly diet. Improving food literacy in children is gaining momentum as a strategy to address the issue of obesity in this age group. To our knowledge, there are no measures of food literacy in children. An online questionnaire for children aged 9‐10 years living in New Zealand (NZ) was developed based on the following components of food literacy; food origins, nutrition knowledge, and food skills. The 65‐item questionnaire underwent three phases of testing with revisions made after each phase. In Phase 1, the questionnaire was reviewed by an expert panel (n=11) to assess content validity; the content validity index for the questionnaire was 0.83, indicating good content validity. In Phase 2, the questionnaire was pre‐tested with children using cognitive interviews (n=4) and a focus group (n=4); the questionnaire was revised to ensure items were correctly interpreted by children to achieve face validity. In Phase 3, the questionnaire was pilot tested in children (n=85) at two primary schools on two occasions to assess reliability and validity; items that failed to meet item difficulty and discrimination criteria were removed. The internal consistency of each of the content sections was acceptable to good (Cronbach's alpha 0.69‐0.79) and the Intraclass Correlation Coefficients demonstrated good test‐retest reliability for each section (0.69‐0.83) and for the overall questionnaire (0.89). The final 42‐item questionnaire is a reliable and valid measure of food literacy in NZ school children, which is easily adapted for use in other countries, and shows promise as a tool for evaluating the efficacy of food literacy interventions or programs implemented in schools.