Development and Psychometric Evaluation of a Food Resource Acceptability Questionnaire.

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Public Health
• Psychology

Background:

• Food insecurity is a major public health issue.
• Stigma surrounding food assistance acts as a significant barrier to accessing needed resources.
• Existing measures may not fully capture the nuances of food assistance stigma.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a scale measuring perceptions of stigma related to food assistance.
• To create a tool that can inform interventions aimed at reducing food insecurity.

Main Methods:

• Development of the Food Resource Acceptability Questionnaire (FRAQ) using qualitative interviews and a modified Delphi technique.
• Exploratory factor analysis to evaluate the 17-item scale.
• Assessment of internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha.

Main Results:

• The FRAQ scale was developed, comprising two subscales: stigma and the belief that food is a basic right.
• High reliability was demonstrated with Cronbach's alphas of 0.85 (Stigma), 0.80 (Food as a Basic Right), and 0.89 (overall FRAQ).
• The scale measures the acceptability of food assistance.

Conclusions:

• The FRAQ is a reliable tool for assessing perceptions of food assistance stigma.
• Findings suggest that interventions to reduce food insecurity should incorporate strategies to mitigate stigma.
• Further research is recommended to validate the FRAQ in diverse populations.