Sustainable diets among youth: Validity and reliability of a questionnaire assessing knowledge, attitudes, practices,...

In light of the global commitment to promoting sustainable dietary choices and the pivotal role of young adults in the adoption of these choices, it is paramount to understand their perspectives of healthy and sustainable diets. The present study aimed to investigate the validity and reliability of a questionnaire examining the knowledge, attitudes, practices, and willingness to change regarding sustainable diets among young adults in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Male and female students attending University of Sharjah, UAE (n = 436), completed an online questionnaire consisting of four sections: knowledge, attitudes, practices, and willingness to change with regard to sustainable diets. Of the participants, 106 completed the questionnaire a second time, 1 month later. Factor analysis (FA) (both exploratory and confirmatory), Cronbach-α, interitem correlations, and intra class correlation (ICC) coefficients were used in the data analysis.

Exploratory FA revealed four factors corresponding to the components of the questionnaire. Results of the confirmatory FA indicated a good fit: the χ2 df ratio was < 5 (2.3), root mean squared error of approximation was < 0.08 (0.048) and the comparative fit index was above 0.9 (0.901). Cronbach α and interitem correlations were: knowledge: 0.57 and 0.21; attitude: 0.70 and 0.28; practices: 0.76 and 0.39; willingness to change: 0.69 and 0.27. The ICC coefficients, assessing the reliability of the questionnaire, ranged between 0.48 and 0.92 for the various items.

The developed questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool that could be used to identify the gaps and opportunities for the development of evidence-based interventions aiming to enhance the uptake of sustainable diets among young adults.