Connell Carol L, Nord Mark, Lofton Kristi L, Yadrick Kathy
Delta Nutrition Intervention Research Initiative, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5054, USA.
J Nutr. 2004 Oct;134(10):2566-72. doi: 10.1093/jn/134.10.2566.
Cognitive interviewing methods were used to adapt questions from the U.S. Food Security Survey Module for administration to children. Individual concurrent probing techniques using standardized probes were utilized to assess understanding of the items with 20 African American children (10 males, 10 females, aged 11-13 y). Item wording and response sets were revised, and small groups of boys (n = 5) and girls (n = 14) aged 12-15 y were asked to complete the 9-item survey. Retrospective probing techniques were then used to assess comprehension of items and response sets. Nine items were then piloted in a middle school using a self-administered format. Three hundred forty-five surveys were returned. The majority of the students were between 12 and 15 y (n = 215). Scaling analysis of the 345 completed surveys using statistical methods based on the Rasch measurement model indicated that the module measured a single underlying phenomenon (food insecurity) with sufficient reliability to be a useful tool. The measurable range of food insecurity was about 6 times the estimated measurement error, indicating that the scale could identify 3 categories of food security with reasonable reliability. A survey instrument that reliably measures food security status of individual children can provide researchers with an important tool to assess more accurately the individual-level effects of food security on nutritional status and mental and physical health among this population.
采用认知访谈方法，对美国食品安全调查模块中的问题进行调整，以便用于对儿童进行调查。使用标准化探测手段的个体同步探测技术，用于评估20名非裔美国儿童（10名男性，10名女性，年龄在11 - 13岁）对这些问题的理解。对问题措辞和回答选项进行了修订，然后让12 - 15岁的男孩小组（n = 5）和女孩小组（n = 14）完成这份9个问题的调查问卷。随后使用回顾性探测技术来评估对问题和回答选项的理解。然后在一所中学采用自行填写的形式对9个问题进行了试点。共收回345份调查问卷。大多数学生年龄在12至15岁之间（n = 215）。使用基于拉施测量模型的统计方法，对345份已完成的调查问卷进行尺度分析，结果表明该模块测量的是一个单一的潜在现象（粮食不安全），具有足够的可靠性，可成为一个有用的工具。粮食不安全的可测量范围约为估计测量误差的6倍，这表明该量表能够以合理的可靠性识别3类粮食安全状况。一种能够可靠地测量个体儿童粮食安全状况的调查问卷，可为研究人员提供一个重要工具，以便更准确地评估粮食安全对该人群营养状况以及身心健康的个体层面影响。
