Reliability of a Market Basket Assessment Tool (MBAT) for Use in SNAP-Ed Healthy Retail Initiatives

Sarah A Misyak; Valisa E Hedrick; Ellen Pudney; Elena L Serrano; Alisha R Farris

doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2018.01.012

Reliability of a Market Basket Assessment Tool (MBAT) for Use in SNAP-Ed Healthy Retail Initiatives

J Nutr Educ Behav. 2018 May;50(5):511-515. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2018.01.012. Epub 2018 Mar 2.

Authors

Sarah A Misyak¹, Valisa E Hedrick², Ellen Pudney³, Elena L Serrano³, Alisha R Farris⁴

Affiliations

¹ Virginia Cooperative Extension Family Nutrition Program, Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. Electronic address: smisyak@vt.edu.
² Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA.
³ Virginia Cooperative Extension Family Nutrition Program, Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA.
⁴ Department of Nutrition and Health Care Management, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.

PMID: 29500105
DOI: 10.1016/j.jneb.2018.01.012

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the reliability of the Market Basket Assessment Tool (MBAT) for assessing the availability of fruits and vegetables, low-fat or nonfat dairy and eggs, lean meats, whole-grain products, and seeds, beans, and nuts in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-authorized retail environments.

Methods: Different trained raters used the MBAT simultaneously at 14 retail environments to measure interrater reliability. Raters returned to 12 retail environments (85.7%) 1 week later to measure test-retest reliability. Data were analyzed using paired-sample t tests and correlations.

Results: No significant differences were found for interrater reliability or test-retest reliability for individual categories (mean differences, 0.0 to 0.3 ± 0.2 points) or total score (mean difference, 0.5 ± 0.4 points and (mean differences, 0.0 to 0.3 ± 0.3 points) or total score (mean difference, 0.8 ± 0.4 points), respectively.

Conclusions and implications: Future steps include validation of the MBAT. A low-burden tool can facilitate evaluation of efforts to promote healthful foods in retail environments.

Keywords: Dietary Guidelines for Americans; SNAP-Ed; assessment; reliability; retail nutrition environment.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Data Collection / standards*
Food Assistance*
Food Supply*
Humans
Nutrition Assessment*
Reproducibility of Results
Virginia