[Development of a prototype instrument to assess women's culinary autonomy]

This study aimed to develop a prototype of an instrument to assess women's culinary autonomy. The conceptual model of culinary autonomy and the theoretical-methodological framework of procedural development of instruments were adopted for this. Steps involved finding empirical manifestations (expressions) of the construct of culinary autonomy and elaboration of items by a literature review, two focus groups (n = 20), a workshop with specialists (n = 25); content and item semantics validation by a panel of experts (n = 20); the evaluation of a preliminary version of the prototype (dimensional structure, semantics, and item intensity gradient) in a workshop with a specialist in instrument development; and two pre-tests (n = 30). The final version of the prototype of the culinary autonomy instrument contains 64 items and two blocks: individual knowledge, habits, and attitudes (38 items) and aspects of the household and residents' practices (26 items). A study is underway to evaluate the validity and reliability of this instrument with women from four Brazilian regions. Applying this instrument in different realities can support food and nutrition public policies as well as qualify nutritional care in the Brazilian Unified National Health System.