Abstract

COSTA, Maria da Graça ferreira Aparício; NUNES, Maria Madalena de Jesus Cunha; DUARTE, João Carvalho  and  PEREIRA, Anabela Maria Sousa. Parents’ knowledge about feeding: construction and validation of a child feeding questionnaire. Rev. Enf. Ref. [online]. 2012, vol.serIII, n.6, pp.55-68. ISSN 0874-0283.  https://doi.org/10.12707/RIII1158.

Background: valid instruments to obtain information about the knowledge and practices that mediate children’s feeding are important for planning focused health promotion activities. Purpose: to describe the process of construction and validation of a questionnaire, assessing parents’ knowledge regarding child feeding. Methods: the participants included 559 parents of preschool children living in the Centre of Portugal, maternal age, average = 34.43(±5,0); paternal = 36.47(±5,45) years. We measured internal consistency and construct validity. Results: the final Cronbach Alpha coefficient (alpha = 0.942) showed good homogeneity and internal consistency, with significant correlation with the global score, both with and without the item included. Principal components factor analysis followed by varimax rotation and graphic scree plots extracted four factors that explain 39.59% of the total variance. The factors’ composition suggests the following meanings: Factor 1 - Feeding and Health; Factor 2 - Dietary Rules; Factor 3 - Family Dietary Beliefs; Factor 4 - Variety/diversity in Feeding Patterns. Conclusion: the QAI psychometric properties demonstrate its quality as a tool to be used in health promotion activities, aimed at identifying the educational needs of parents regarding child feeding.

Keywords : health knowledge; attitudes and practice; child; preschool; validation studies; child nutrition.

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