The Platform to Evaluate Athlete Knowledge of Sports Nutrition Questionnaire: a reliable and valid electronic sports nutrition knowledge questionnaire for athletes

Abstract

Reliable and valid assessment of sports nutrition knowledge can inform athlete nutrition education to address knowledge gaps. This study aimed to test the reliability and validity of an electronically administered sports nutrition knowledge tool – Platform to Evaluate Athlete Knowledge of Sports Nutrition Questionnaire (PEAKS-NQ). A 94-item PEAKS-NQ was piloted to 149 developmental athletes (DA) in New Zealand, with a subset invited to complete the PEAKS-NQ again to evaluate reliability. Reliability was evaluated using Sign Tests and intraclass correlation, and internal consistency by Cronbach’s α (≥0.8 is good). Australian accredited sports dietitians (ASD; n=255) were invited to complete the PEAKS-NQ to establish construct validity via known-groups methodology and provide relevance scores to determine the scale content validity index (S-CVI). Rasch analysis was conducted on combined DA and ASD data to identify potentially problematic items and test reliability. Score differences between DA and ASD were analysed using independent t or non-parametric tests. DA (n=88) were 17.8±1.4y, 61.4% female, and mostly in high school (94.3%). ASD (n=45) were 37.8±7.6y, 82.2% female, with >5 years of dietetic experience (59.1%). ASD scored higher than DA in all sections and overall (91.5±3.4% vs. 67.1±10.5%) (p<0.001). There were no differences between re-tests (n=18; p=0.14). Cronbach’s α was 0.86. S-CVI indicated good content validity (0.88). Refinement by Rasch analysis resulted in a 50-item PEAKS-NQ with very good item and person reliability (0.91 and 0.92 respectively). PEAKS-NQ is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing sports nutrition knowledge which could assist practitioners effectively tailor and evaluate nutrition education.

The Med-NKQ: A Reliable Mediterranean Diet Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire for Cardiovascular Disease

“…Previously published repeatability studies of similar design examining the validity of various nutrition knowledge tools have reported comparable sample sizes. [ 56 , 74 , 75 , 76 ].…”

“…Items varied in complexity and scoring was weighted accordingly. The scoring system used was based on similarly designed validated nutrition knowledge tools and is available in the Supplementary Material Table S2 [ 56 , 57 ]. For questions that only had one correct answer, one point was awarded for a question with low difficulty, two points were awarded for a question with moderate difficulty, and three points were awarded for complex or difficult questions.…”

Measuring the sports nutrition knowledge of elite Australian athletes using the Platform to Evaluate Athlete Knowledge of Sports Nutrition Questionnaire

“…An electronic assessment instrument known as the Platform to Evaluate Athlete Knowledge of Sports Nutrition Questionnaire (PEAKS-NQ) has recently been developed to address these gaps. 11 The PEAKS-NQ has demonstrated good construct and content validity, and reliability, 12 but has not been used to evaluate the knowledge levels of elite athletes. Additionally, the usefulness, feasibility, acceptability and potential for enhancing practice have not been established by sports dietitians working with these athletes.…”

Diet Quality of Elite Australian Athletes Evaluated Using the Athlete Diet Index

“…Furthermore, differences observed in the sub-scores associated with the stage of the training cycle suggest the importance of measuring diet quality longitudinally across a competitive season (i.e., pre-season vs. in season). As the electronic ADI evaluates dietary intake based on the previous seven days, fluctuations in dietary intake due to the periodisation of training over the micro- (i.e., 1 week), meso- (i.e., 2 to 6 weeks), and macro-cycle (i.e., competitive season) [ 3 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ] support the importance of longitudinal measurement.…”

“…This cross-sectional study involved the delivery of a suite of nutrition assessment tools via an online platform (i.e., Accelerated Sports Nutrition Assessment Platform; ASNAP), comprised of three components: (1) demographics and sport-specific characteristics; (2) a sports nutrition knowledge tool (i.e., Platform to Evaluate Athlete Knowledge of Sports Nutrition Questionnaire, PEAKS-NQ) [ 38 ]; and (3) the ADI [ 36 ]. Athlete participants completed all three ASNAP components; however, data collected from the PEAKS-NQ will be reported elsewhere.…”