The Relative Validity of the Menzies Remote Short-Item Dietary Assessment Tool (MRSDAT) in Aboriginal Australian Children Aged 6–36 Months

Abstract

The Menzies Remote Short-item Dietary Assessment Tool (MRSDAT) can be used to derive a dietary index score, which measures the degree of compliance with the Australian Dietary Guidelines. This study aimed to determine the relative validity of a dietary index score for children aged 6–24 months, living in a Remote Aboriginal Community (RAC), derived using MRSDAT. This validation study compared dietary index scores derived using MRSDAT with those derived from the average of three 24-h recalls. Participants were aged 6–36 months at the first dietary assessment and were living in a RAC. The level of agreement between the two methods was explored using Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient (CCC), Bland-Altman plots, weighted Cohen’s kappa, and Fischer’s exact and paired t-tests. Forty participants were recruited. The CCC was poor between methods (R = 0.35, 95% CI 0.06, 0.58), with MRSDAT estimating higher dietary intake scores for all food groups except fruit, and higher dietary quality scores by an average of 4.78 points/100. Community-based Aboriginal researchers were central to this validation study. MRSDAT was within the performance range of other short-item dietary assessment tools developed for young children, and shows promise for use with very young children in RACs.

Adaptation, acceptability and feasibility of a Short Food Survey to assess the dietary intake of children during attendance at childcare

“…spaghetti bolognaise). Higher reporting of consumption compared to another reference method has been found in other adaptations of the SFS (28) . This finding may be due to a number of reasons.…”

“…In contrast to the original parentcompleted SFS where discretionary foods were comparatively underestimated, the SFS-ECEC reported higher consumption of discretionary foods. This could reflect differences between educator and parent versions of the SFS where the parents may be more likely to report in a socially desirable manner (10,28) .…”

“…The original SFS was intended to be used to measure diet quality operationalised as adherence to the Australian Dietary Guidelines (15) , rather than a measure of food group intake or dichotomous categorisation of guideline compliance. This reflects validation studies where a diet quality index score may be more comparable to the reference method than individual food group serving assessments (15,28) . As such, measures specifically designed to capture food group intake may be better suited for adaptation to the ECEC setting using multiple days of direct observation for comparison.…”

Dietary intake of Aboriginal Australian children aged 6–36 months in a remote community: a cross-sectional study

“…A further strength of this analysis providing confidence in the validity of the data is the assistance of local Aboriginal researchers in data collection and the capacity building within community the research provided; local researchers with experienced public health nutrition researchers were able to elicit the most detail possible from carers, despite language and cultural differences. In remote Aboriginal communities it is particularly important to have skilled local researchers assist with 24-h recalls to ensure accurate interpretation of the dietary data provided by participants in this unique setting [25]. Finally, the previous work of the research team with remote community food systems enabled the use of a comprehensive database with highly specific food item data entry based on exact knowledge of the composition of products available in community.…”

“…Food volumes and portion sizes were estimated using household measures (metric cups and spoons). Breastfeeding mothers were asked how many times and for what length of time in minutes they had breastfed for during the previous 24 h. Additional information regarding usual cooking practices was collected using the Menzies Remote Short-Item Dietary Assessment Tool [25]. Information was also collected regarding playgroup attendance as meals are provided at playgroup.…”