[Adaptation and construct validation of the Dietary Quality Survey for Older Adults (ECAPAM) in Mexico]

Introduction: food, as a key determinant of health, promotes the well-being and development of the population in all age groups. However, there is a limited number of tools that approach the evaluation of food quality, especially in older adults. In Latin America, the Survey of Food Quality of the Elderly (ECAAM) was created in the Chilean population and has its content validity, but in Mexico there are no similar scales. Objective: to perform the adaptation and validation of the construct of the new Survey of Food Quality of Older Adults (ECAPAM) in Mexico. Methods: first, the adaptation of the ECAAM was carried out by experts in the area using food names relevant to the Mexican population; later the adapted instrument (now ECAPAM) was validated through its application in 201 Mexican individuals aged 65 and older; Finally, the construct validity was obtained with the modification of the necessary items. Results: after adaptation to older adults, construct validity was performed, which allowed obtaining a survey adjusted to 16 items that shows reliability of the scale, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.698 and a McDonald's ω of 0.709. Conclusions: the ECAPAM is proposed as a brief, simple and reliable tool for the evaluation of the quality of food in older Mexican adults.