Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 521 Jack Stephens Drive, Little Rock, AR, 72205, USA.
University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, 2558 So Elizabeth Street, Salt Lake City, UT, 85406, USA.
Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2018 Sep 10;15(1):85. doi: 10.1186/s12966-018-0717-x.
Children spend a substantial amount of time in early care and education (ECE) settings and may eat a majority of their diet in this setting. While there are several instruments focused on measuring factors of the ECE environment that may influence diet and weight outcomes, there are few comprehensive, valid, and reliable measures for collecting self-report of ECE providers' feeding practices. The purpose of this study was to establish the factor structure and internal reliability of a survey developed to measure practices and beliefs of ECE providers relative to feeding children.
Licensed ECE centers from CA, CO, ID and NV were included in this cross-sectional survey study. The sample was stratified by states and census regions to yield equal numbers of centers from each category. The total sample distribution included 1600 randomly selected centers and up to 8000 staff members (who represented teachers, aides, assistants, or cooks); 1178 surveys were completed. We conducted an exploratory, unrestricted factor analysis as well as parallel analyses to inform the number of factors to be extracted.
Factors within Structural Mealtime Strategies included Adult Control of Foods Consumed (Kuder-Richardson [KR] = 0.67), Bribing with Sweet Foods (KR = 0.70), and Supportive Adult Roles at Mealtime (KR = 0.55). Factors in Verbal Mealtime Strategies included Supporting Children's Eating Self-regulation (KR =0.61), Pressure to Eat (KR = 0.58), and Social Comparisons (KR = 0.59). Beliefs about Mealtime factors were Autonomy Promoting (α = 0.64), Coercive Beliefs (α = 0.77), and Concern-Based Control (α = 0.60).
The AFC Strategies and Beliefs Survey provides a promising self-report instrument with a strong factor structure consistent with the extant literature to measure practices and beliefs related to feeding and mealtimes in the ECE setting. Feeding young children in group settings differs in many ways from feeding in a family setting; hence it is important that measures such as the AFC Strategies and Beliefs Survey capture unique aspects of the ECE feeding environment.
儿童在早期保育和教育（ECE）环境中花费大量时间，并且可能在该环境中摄入大部分饮食。虽然有几个专注于衡量 ECE 环境中可能影响饮食和体重结果的因素的工具，但很少有全面、有效和可靠的措施来收集 ECE 提供者喂养实践的自我报告。本研究的目的是建立一项测量 ECE 提供者喂养儿童相关实践和信念的调查工具的因子结构和内部信度。
来自加利福尼亚州、科罗拉多州、爱达荷州和内华达州的持照 ECE 中心参与了这项横断面调查研究。该样本按州和人口普查区域分层，以从每个类别中获得相等数量的中心。总样本分布包括 1600 个随机选择的中心和多达 8000 名工作人员（代表教师、助手、助理或厨师）；完成了 1178 项调查。我们进行了探索性的、无限制的因子分析以及并行分析，以确定要提取的因子数量。
结构性进餐策略中的因素包括成人对所摄入食物的控制（Kuder-Richardson [KR] = 0.67）、用甜食贿赂（KR = 0.70）和支持进餐时成人角色（KR = 0.55）。口头进餐策略中的因素包括支持儿童的饮食自我调节（KR = 0.61）、进食压力（KR = 0.58）和社会比较（KR = 0.59）。与进餐相关的信念因素包括促进自主性（α = 0.64）、强制性信念（α = 0.77）和基于关注的控制（α = 0.60）。
AFC 策略和信念调查提供了一种有前途的自我报告工具，具有与现有文献一致的强大因子结构，用于测量 ECE 环境中与喂养和进餐相关的实践和信念。在群体环境中喂养幼儿在许多方面与家庭环境中的喂养不同；因此，重要的是，像 AFC 策略和信念调查这样的措施能够捕捉到 ECE 喂养环境的独特方面。
