Roba Aklilu Abrham, Başdaş Öznur
College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.
Nursing Department (Child Health and Diseases Nursing Program), Institute of Health Sciences, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Türkiye.
Front Pediatr. 2025 Apr 3;13:1507055. doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1507055. eCollection 2025.
Early childhood nutrition plays a critical role in shaping lifelong health outcomes, yet preschool children in low- and middle-income countries often have poor dietary habits and limited knowledge of healthy foods. This study aimed to validate and assess the reliability of the 9-item Healthy Food Knowledge (HFK_PS) and Healthy Food Preference (HFP_PS) scales, ensuring cultural relevance for measuring food knowledge and preferences among Ethiopian preschool children aged 3-7 years.
A cross-sectional design was employed, involving 319 preschoolers from five randomly selected 5 kindergarten schools. Data was collected through an interactive photo-based interview with the children. A panel of ten experts assessed content validity, while construct validity was assessed using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha.
The EFA identified a two-factor structure for both scales, explaining 50.91% and 50.18% of the variance for HFK_PS and HFP_PS, respectively. CFA confirmed the model fit, with all indices meeting the recommended thresholds. The HFK_PS and HFP_PS scales demonstrated good internal consistency, with Cronbach's alpha values of 0.80 and 0.78, respectively. Older children and those in higher grades had significantly greater food knowledge ( < 0.001), and food preferences also improved with grade level ( < 0.05). However, preferences remained stable across age groups ( = 0.928). However, no significant gender differences were found. A positive correlation ( = 0.43, < 0.001) was found between healthy food knowledge and preferences, suggesting that increased knowledge is associated with healthier preferences.
The validated scales can be instrumental in evaluating preschoolers' dietary knowledge and preferences in Ethiopia. Future studies should focus on implementing these scales in nutrition education programs to assess their effectiveness in fostering long-term healthy eating habits among young children.
幼儿营养在塑造终身健康结果方面起着关键作用，但低收入和中等收入国家的学龄前儿童往往饮食习惯不佳，对健康食品的了解有限。本研究旨在验证和评估9项健康食品知识（HFK_PS）和健康食品偏好（HFP_PS）量表的可靠性，确保其在衡量埃塞俄比亚3至7岁学龄前儿童的食品知识和偏好方面具有文化相关性。
采用横断面设计，涉及从五所随机选择的幼儿园中抽取的319名学龄前儿童。通过与孩子们进行基于照片的互动访谈收集数据。由十位专家组成的小组评估内容效度，同时使用探索性因子分析（EFA）和验证性因子分析（CFA）评估结构效度。使用克朗巴哈系数评估信度。
EFA确定了两个量表的双因素结构，分别解释了HFK_PS和HFP_PS方差的50.91%和50.18%。CFA证实了模型拟合，所有指标均达到推荐阈值。HFK_PS和HFP_PS量表显示出良好的内部一致性，克朗巴哈系数值分别为0.80和0.78。年龄较大的儿童和高年级儿童的食品知识明显更多（<0.001），食品偏好也随着年级的升高而改善（<0.05）。然而，各年龄组的偏好保持稳定（=0.928）。不过，未发现显著的性别差异。健康食品知识与偏好之间存在正相关（=0.43，<0.001），表明知识的增加与更健康的偏好相关。
经过验证的量表有助于评估埃塞俄比亚学龄前儿童的饮食知识和偏好。未来的研究应侧重于在营养教育项目中应用这些量表，以评估其在培养幼儿长期健康饮食习惯方面的有效性。
