Food behavior checklist effectively evaluates nutrition education

Abstract

We developed a short food behavior checklist (FBC) to evaluate the impact of nutrition education on fruit and vegetable intake among ethnically diverse women in the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program (FSNEP) and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). To validate the FBC, interviewers collected three 24-hour dietary recalls as well as responses to 11 FBC behavioral questions about fruits and vegetables from 100 English-speaking, low-income women at baseline. A randomly selected subgroup (n = 59) provided a blood sample for analysis of total serum carotenoids at baseline and follow-up. After 6 hours of nutrition education, the treatment group reported significant improvements in three of the seven FBC questions related to fruit and vegetable intake, while no significant changes occurred in the control group. All seven FBC questions were significantly correlated with total serum carotenoids. This short, culturally neutral FBC is a valid and reliable indicator of fruit and vegetable consumption. Compared with the 24-hour dietary recall, it is also less time-consuming to administer, code and analyze, with a reduced respondent burden. UCCE nutrition educator lan Nguyen addresses a class at Fremont Adult school. In California two such programs, EFNEP and FsNEP, together evaluate the nutrition education received by 21,000 low-income families each year.

Less-energy-dense diets of low-income women in California are associated with higher energy-adjusted diet costs

“…Income was reported for the household for the month. On the basis of previous studies conducted in low-income communities, such respondents are more familiar with monthly, not annual, income and are therefore more able and willing to report this sensitive information with more accuracy (18)(19)(20)(21). Options for reporting usual household income ranged from ,$500/mo in $500 increments to $2501-$3000/mo (18,20,21).…”

Validation of 2 Brief Fruit and Vegetable Assessment Instruments Among Third-Grade Students

“…Pictured cups contain either fruit or vegetables at the designated cup level. Readability and validity were acceptable among adults [16][17][18] but were not tested with children. Food Behavior Checklist questions regarding FV intake were reliable among children (aged 8-9 years) but were not tested for agreement with a reference measure.…”

Effectiveness of Salsa, Sabor y Salud Program and the Impact of a Salsa, Sabor y Salud Maintenance Program on Outcome Measures

“…One of the questionnaires, Salsa, Sabor y Salud Healthy Lifestyle Test, obtained from the National Latino Children's Institute (Bennett et al, 2011;Barrera et al, 2002), was used to assess knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes surrounding nutrition and physical activity. The other questionnaire, Washington State University (WSU) Food Behavior Checklist (Blackburn et al, 2006;Murphy, Kaiser, Townsend, & Allen, 2001;Townsend, Kaiser, Allen, Joy, & Murphy, 2003;Townsend, Sylva, Martin, Metz, & Wooten-Swanson, 2008), is a multiple choice questionnaire assessing food group preference, food frequency, food label knowledge, food security, and physical activity.…”

“…Participants were eligible to join the SSSM if they had participated in the SSS program held in the winter of 2011 and attended 3 or more sessions. Demographics were assessed using the Washington State University Demographics Questionnaire (Blackburn, Townsend, Kaiser, Martin, West, Turner, & Joy, 2006), which helped determine if the participants were of Hispanic ethnicity and the race they considered themselves to be. It qualified age as 18 -59 or 60 plus.…”