Abstract

SANCHO, Teresa et al. Reliability of the “Meals in Our Household Questionnaire” in Portuguese Preschool Children. Nutrícias [online]. 2014, n.23, pp.10-13. ISSN 2182-7230.

Assessment tools of mealtimes in families are limited and there is none which comprehensively measures Portuguese children’s mealtime structure, environment, behavior and its effects on the household. This paper aims at translating, culturally adapting and testing the psychometric properties of the Meals in Our Household Questionnaire in Portuguese preschool children. The Meals in Our Household Questionnaire was translated into Portuguese and back-translated into English by an expert translator. Questionnaires were filled in twice by the same participants, with two weeks in-between. The Meals in Our Household Questionnaire reliability analysis included internal consistency, assessed by Cronbach’s alpha, and reproducibility, assessed by Spearman’s correlation coefficient. We found satisfactory internal consistency across all of the Meals in Our Household Questionnaire domains and moderate to strong test-retest correlations. The questionnaire’s translation led to a satisfactory reliable tool to assess parents’ perception of the Portuguese preschoolers’ family mealtime behaviors and environments, which can be quite useful for healthcare interventions.

Keywords : Eating behavior; Family mealtime; Mealtime behavior; Reliability.

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