Validity and reliability of the arabic national nutrition plans checklist

Numerous efforts have been directed toward promoting nutrition in Arab countries. Implementing national nutrition plans and strategies is essential for addressing a country's nutritional situation synergistically and cost-effectively. Many Arabic-speaking countries have developed national nutrition plans and/or strategies. Thus, an Arabic national nutrition plans assessment tool is necessary to revise current plans and improve the quality of future plans in the region. This study aimed to translate and evaluate the validity and reliability of the Arabic-translated National Nutrition Plans checklist. After translating the checklist into Arabic, the Delphi technique was used to evaluate face validity using the Face Validity Index (FVI). Test-retest reliability was evaluated by calculating the intraclass correlation coefficient and inter-rater reliability using Fleiss' Kappa. This resulted in acceptable face validity (FVI values > 0.83). The test-retest reliability was excellent (ICC = 0.98, SEM = 1.96, MDC = 5.43), and the inter-rater reliability achieved substantial agreement between the raters (Fleiss' kappa [95% CI] = 0.61 [0.59-0.63]). This demonstrates that the Arabic-translated National Nutrition Plans checklist is valid and reliable. The Arabic-translated National Nutrition Plans checklist lays the foundation for the systematic assessment and development of national nutrition plans and strategies in Arab countries.