Food for thought : a social cognitive approach to assessing children's food environments.

The objective of this study was to describe the process of developing and piloting a Social Cognitive Theory (SCT)-based assessment tool to capture the interaction between environmental and social determinants of child fruit and vegetable (F/V) intake. A three-stage process facilitated development of the 64-item Food For Thought questionnaire: (1) initial item selection and improvement; (2) expert panel review for improvement and establishing content and face validity, comprehensiveness, and cultural equivalence; and (3) refinement from a pilot test and focus group. Instrument modifications determined from these processes were described in detail. Children ages 8-12 (n=42) of ethnically diverse and low-income households were administered the computer-based questionnaire during after-school programming at local community centers. Scale response means and bivariate correlations were calculated. Overall mean F/V intake met the daily recommendation of five servings (M=5.17; SD=3.43). Self-efficacy for eating, preparing, and asking for F/V was the SCT construct most strongly associated with F/V consumption (M=2.44; SD=0.41; r=0.50; p=0.01). Future research should be designedto validate the SCT-based scales included in the Food For Thought questionnaire to provide a more robust, theoretically comprehensive assessment of factors of children's F/V intake.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.P.H.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Grantor

Baylor University.

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Sumrall, Jasmin C., 1990-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Umstattd Meyer, M. Renée.

• Fruit.
• Vegetables.
• Social cognitive theory.

Statement dc:rights

• Baylor University works are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2104/9324

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:baylor-ir.tdl.org:2104/9324