Selecting items of a food behavior checklist for the development of Nutrition Quotient (NQ) for children

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study is to select a simple and easy measurable food behavior checklist for the development of Nutrition Quotient (NQ) for children, which reflects children's diet quality, as well as to evaluate the validity of the items in the food behavior checklist. The first 36 items in the checklist were established by an expert review, modifying the preliminary 50 items in the checklist, which had been selected by a literature review and the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data. 341 children in 5th and 6th grades at an elementary school participated in a one-day dietary record survey, and later responded to 36 food behavior questions of the checklist. Pearson's correlation coefficients between the responses to the food behavior checklist items along with the mean nutrient intakes of the children were calculated. From the result, in which responses of food frequency and food behavior items showed certain association with the dietary record data, a second checklist with 22 items was selected. A survey was conducted by using the second checklist. 1,393 children in the 5th and 6th grades at 12 elementary schools in metropolitan cities, such as Seoul, Busan, Gwangju, Daegu, Daejeon, and Incheon, participated in the survey. Further, an exploratory factor analysis was performed. After the analysis, 19 items (10 items from food frequency and 9 items from food behavior) were finalized as the food behavior checklist items for the NQ. The final 19 food behavior checklist items were composed of 5 factors: 'Balance', 'Diversity', 'Moderation', 'Regularity', and 'Practice'. This study is a significant first trial to establish a comprehensive system for evaluating children's food habit and diet quality. This checklist might need continuous modification and revision reflecting the change of children's dietary life and the social environment.