Reliability and validity of a questionnaire to measure personal, social and environmental correlates of fruit and vegetable intake in 10–11-year-old children in five European countries

103

102

Objective: Due to a proliferation of measures for different components of the home environment related to childhood obesity, the purpose of the present systematic review was to examine these tools and the degree to which they can validly and reliably assess the home environment. Design: Relevant manuscripts published between 1998 and 2010 were obtained through electronic database searches and manual searches of reference lists. Manuscripts were included if the researchers reported on a measure of the home environment related to child eating and physical activity (PA) and childhood obesity and reported on at least one psychometric property. Results: Of the forty papers reviewed, 48 % discussed some aspect of parenting specific to food. Fifty-per cent of the manuscripts measured food availability/ accessibility, 18 % measured PA availability/accessibility, 20 % measured media availability/accessibility, 30 % focused on feeding style, 23 % focused on parenting related to PA and 20 % focused on parenting related to screen time. Conclusions: Many researchers chose to design new measures for their studies but often the items employed were brief and there was a lack of transparency in the psychometric properties. Many of the current measures of the home food and PA environment focus on one or two constructs; more comprehensive measures as well as short screeners guided by theoretical models are necessary to capture influences in the home on food and PA behaviours of children. Finally, the current measures of the home environment do not necessarily translate to specific subpopulations. Recommendations were made for future validation of measures in terms of appropriate psychometric testing. Keywords Child obesity Home environment Measurement PsychometricsThe prevalence and severity of childhood overweight have increased significantly in the past three decades (1)(2)(3) . Negative sequalae from being overweight during childhood include being at a higher risk for a number of chronic and acute conditions (4) as well as negative social and psychological outcomes (5) . The source for the majority of childhood obesity cases can be attributed to energy imbalance which has been linked to changes in the food and physical activity (PA) environments (6,7) . The home environment has been documented as one that can either facilitate or inhibit healthful eating and PA, and caregivers play a key role in the development of the social and physical environment within a household (8,9) . From a social environment perspective, caregivers serve as role models for PA, dietary and media behaviours and influence the child's health behaviours and weight status through parenting strategies and feeding styles (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21) . In addition, a child participates in more PA when a greater amount of space and active toys are available in the home (22,23) . Likewise, access to food items can impact consumption (24,25) . Similarly, when more screen opportunities are available, children are more likely to engage i...

Section: Food Availability and Accessibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Food Availability and Accessibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Measures of the home environment related to childhood obesity: a systematic review

Pinard

Yaroch

Hart

et al. 2011

103

102

“…The current study assessed the 2-year follow-up effects of the Schoolgruiten F&V scheme on intake and potential behavioural determinants (knowledge of recommended intake levels, taste preferences, availability and accessibility of F&V at home) (3)(4)(5)(6) , and explored whether children's appreciation of the project mediated these intervention effects. We hypothesized that the children of the intervention group would have higher F&V intakes and more positive scores on the main determinants of F&V than the children of the control group.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term effects of the Dutch Schoolgruiten Project – promoting fruit and vegetable consumption among primary-school children

Tak

Velde

Brug

2009

Objectives: To evaluate the long-term effects of the Schoolgruiten Project, a Dutch primary school-based intervention providing free fruit and vegetables (F&V). In addition, we assessed whether children's appreciation of the project mediated these intervention effects. Design and methods: Participating schoolchildren (mean age 9?9 years at baseline) and their parents completed parallel questionnaires at baseline, at 1-year and at 2-year follow-up, including questions on usual F&V intake of the child, potential behavioural determinants, their appreciation of the project and general demographics. Primary outcomes were usual F&V intakes as assessed by parent and child self-reported food frequency measures. Secondary outcome measures were taste preference, knowledge of daily recommendations, availability and accessibility for fruit intake. Multilevel linear regression analyses were used to assess differences at second follow-up adjusted for baseline values between control and intervention groups. Subjects: Reports were available for 346 intervention children (148 parents) and 425 control children (287 parents). Results: Both child and parent reports indicated that the intervention group had a significantly higher fruit intake at 2-year follow-up (difference, servings/d: 0?15; 95 % CI 0?004, 0?286 for child reports; 0?19; 95 % CI 0?030, 0?340 for parent reports). No significant effects on vegetable intake were observed. Significant positive intervention effects were also found for knowledge of fruit recommendations among boys. Some evidence was found for partial mediation analyses of the effects on fruit intake. Conclusion: The present study indicates that the Schoolgruiten scheme was effective in increasing children's fruit intake and that appreciation of the project partially mediated this effect.

“…Before the analyses, composite scores were calculated for these four factors as the mean of two or four items. Intra-class correlations in the test-retest reliability analyses of these factors were 0?58-0?74, while Cronbach a values ranged from 0?42 for self-efficacy, 0?53 for perceived barriers, 0?61 for attitude to 0?70 for liking, respectively (see De Bourdeaudhuij et al (29) for detailed information on the psychometrics and also see Table 1 for a more detailed description of the measures).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct and indirect association between environmental factors and fruit intake, mediation by psychosocial factors: the Pro Children study

Wind

Velde

Brug

et al. 2010

Objectives: To explore direct associations between home and school availability of fruit and fruit intake, and the mediating role of attitude towards fruit, liking, perceived barriers and self-efficacy. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Primary schools in nine European countries. Subjects: Within the Pro Children study, data were collected on perceived home and school availability of fruit, psychosocial factors related to fruit intake and its frequency among 13 305 11-year-old schoolchildren. Results: Significant overall associations were found between child-reported home availability of fruit and fruit intake in all countries and in the total sample. School availability of fruit was associated with fruit intake in the pooled sample and in country-specific analyses in Sweden and the Netherlands. Liking (13?2-49?4 %) and self-efficacy (14?0-25?1 %) were the strongest mediators in the home availabilityfruit intake relationship, but there was also a direct association between home availability and fruit intake, except in Spain and the Netherlands. Mediating pathways of the school availability-fruit intake relationship could only be assessed for Norway, Sweden and the total sample. Attitude was a significant mediator in Norway (80?4 %) and in Sweden (25?3 %), while in the total sample also liking (38?7 %) and self-efficacy (23?0 %) were identified as significant mediators. Conclusions: The association between home availability of fruit and fruit intake is at least partly mediated by personal factors such as liking and self-efficacy indicates that fruit intake is not a complete automatic or unconscious behaviour.