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Usefulness of the food habits questionnaire in a worksite setting
Mary P Spoon1, Paul G Devereux, Jamie A Benedict
1Department of Nutrition, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA. spoonm@unce.umr.edu
Objective:
To examine the validity and reliability of the 24-item Food Habits Questionnaire (FHQ) in a worksite setting.
Design:
In a longitudinal design, subjects in a 9-month worksite intervention program completed the FHQ pre- and postintervention. A randomly selected subsample also completed 2 sets of 4-day food records.
Setting:
Three locations within a multisite industrial equipment company.
Participants:
Subjects (N = 178) self-selected to participate in the program and completed the FHQ. Mean age was 40.7+/-10.6, 60% were male, and 82% were white, and there were 15 occupational categories. Thirty-two subjects completed 2 sets of 4-day food records.
Main Outcome Measures:
To examine the validity and reliability of the FHQ total scale and subscales in a worksite setting with both men and women from varying socioeconomic levels.
Analysis:
Cronbach a coefficient to estimate internal consistency for the total scale and the subscales, Pearson correlation coefficients to estimate test-retest reliabilities and criterion validity.
Results:
For the 5 subscales, findings showed generally low internal consistency, moderate test-retest reliability, and low to moderate correlations with food record results. Psychometric properties for the total score of the FHQ included satisfactory internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and criterion validity.
Conclusions And Implications:
The FHQ subscales did not perform well and need to be more fully developed. Therefore, the FHQ may best be used as a total scale score to indicate fat-related behaviors.