Development of Food Literacy Assessment Tool Targeting Adults With Low Income

Develop and test validity and reliability of the Food Literacy Assessment Tool (FLitT) in adults with low income.

Face validity was tested using cognitive interviews, content validity using expert review, and internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability based on 2 administrations of the survey.

Urban choice food pantry in Cincinnati, OH.

There were 10 and 98 adults with low income for the cognitive interview and survey, respectively VARIABLES MEASURED: Knowledge, self-efficacy, and behavior required to plan and manage, select, prepare, and eat in relation to food.

Cronbach α and Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 for internal consistency reliability and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for test-retest reliability.

Cognitive interviews and expert feedback suggested modifications to improve the clarity of FLitT and offer more response options. Testing shows acceptable internal consistency in self-efficacy (Cronbach α = 0.92) and behavior (Cronbach α = 0.90) but not in knowledge (Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 = 0.51). The FLitT shows acceptable test-retest reliability for knowledge (ICC = 0.84), self-efficacy (ICC = 0.70), and behavior (ICC = 0.93).

The FLitT was developed and tested for face and content validity and internal and test-retest reliability in adults with low income. Additional research is needed to conduct a second round of face validity and test construct validity using factor analysis with a larger size.