Psychometric Properties of Questionnaires to Assess the Family Food Environment in the Pediatric Population: A...

Given the diverse aspects of the family food environment, it is essential to clarify the availability of tools, the assessed dimensions, and the extent to which they offer a comprehensive and valid evaluation of the domestic food setting.

This systematic review aims to assess the validity and reliability of instruments gauging the food environment within the pediatric population.

A systematic literature search was conducted in the EMBASE, Medline (PubMed), SCOPUS, Web of Science, and PsychINFO databases until December 2023, resulting in the identification of 2850 potentially eligible articles.

After a thorough screening process, comprising language and title criteria, abstract scrutiny, and full-text reading, 179 full papers were separately reviewed, and 52 were chosen for analysis.

Predominantly conducted in the United States utilizing adapted tools, the investigations focused on the sociocultural environment as the most addressed domain. It covered 80.7% of instruments for children and 54.9% for adolescents. The prevailing reliability assessment method was internal consistency, using Cronbach's alpha-coefficient. Acceptable values ranged from 0.70 to 0.96 for children and 0.77 to 0.94 for adolescents. Out of the 52 studies selected, only 22 presented validity measures, with a primary focus on convergent and construct validity assessed through Pearson or Spearman correlation. The findings indicate that, while questionnaires assessing the family food environment exhibited acceptable reliability, validity measures were deemed limited and somewhat ambiguous.

Given the pivotal role of validity in evaluating methodological accuracy and relevance, particularly when measuring specific aspects, there is an imperative need to develop instruments that integrate robust validity measures for the comprehensive assessment of the family food environment.

PROSPERO registration no. CRD42022333228.