Abstract

Purpose:

Food literacy is conceptualised as 11 components under four domains of planning and managing, selecting, preparing, and eating.  Existing food literacy questionnaires utilise differing conceptual frameworks and vary in the methods conducted to assess psychometric properties.  With recent research identifying the Vidgen & Gallegos definition and conceptualisation as the core framework, a valid and reliable questionnaire is needed that comprehensively addresses this conceptualisation. Therefore, this study builds on existing research to develop a food literacy questionnaire using item response theory.

Methods:

1000 participants were recruited across two studies, with principal component analysis (PCA), item response theory (IRT) and test-retest reliability conducted to assess the targeting, responsiveness, reliability and validity of the food literacy questionnaire.

Results:

The PCA saw the 171-item pool reduced to 100-items across 19 sub-components of food literacy.  After the thresholds of 26-items were combined, the food literacy questionnaire reported ordered thresholds, acceptable item locations (-0.00226 to +1.52523), appropriateness of the measurement model (n=92% expected responses), high validity (>0.99), reliability (>0.99) and good test-retest reliability (ICC 2,1 0.55-0.88).

Conclusion:

This study developed the first 100-item food literacy questionnaire to comprehensively address the Vidgen & Gallegos conceptualisation with good targeting, responsiveness, reliability and validity in a diverse sample of Australian adults.

Thompson, C., Byrne, R., Adams, J., & Vidgen, H.A. (2022, May 18-21). Development, validation and item reduction of a food literacy questionnaire (FLQ) with Australian adults. In International Society of Behavioral Nutrition & Physical Activity (ISBNPA) 2022 Conference.