Evaluation of a questionnaire to assess nutritional knowledge, attitudes and practices in a Thai population.

Background: The rapid increase in non-communicable chronic diseases in people of working age has had a major effect on health care utilization, productivity and economy. Lifestyle and diet are recognized as being major risk determinants involved. Disease prevention strategies need to be based on people's understanding of nutritional knowledge, attitudes and practice. This study evaluates the validity of a new nutritional knowledge and practice questionnaire specifically developed for assessing individuals of working age in a Thai population.

Methods: The questionnaire was constructed and based on previous relevant literature and its content validity was scrutinized by an expert panel. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to reduce the number of questions included. Subsequently, data from a cross-sectional study of 1,032 participants were used to evaluate the reliability and validity of this questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire constructed for assessing knowledge and attitude was evaluated using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). For the practice component, set criteria were applied to determine the final variables used.

Results: CFA of the nutritional knowledge component suggested that all the variables in the model fitted with the data (χ = 80.17, df = 66, p > 0.05, CFI = 0.99, RMSEA = 0.01, SRMR = 0.02). The CFA final model for the nutritional knowledge included three factors (food recommendation, nutrients related to diseases, and healthy diet) with a total of 14 questions. For nutrition attitude, CFA also revealed a good fit (χ = 178.14, df = 93, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.99, RMSEA = 0.03, SRMR = 0.03). The final CFA model for nutritional attitude included three factors (food choice, healthy diet and food recommendation) with a total of 16 questions. For practice items, the number of questions was reduced from 76 to 60.

Conclusions: Questionnaire development should use a logical, systematic and structured approach. Results from our evaluation process demonstrates the construction validity of the nutritional knowledge and practice questionnaire developed. This questionnaire can be further modified for use in other countries within the region.