Developing and Validating the Preschool Nutrition Education Practices Survey

Objective: Validate the Preschool Nutrition Education Practices Survey.

Design: Iterative approach combining design-based research and Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing.

Setting: Los Angeles, CA and Philadelphia, PA Early Care and Education (ECE) classrooms.

Participants: Expert panel members (n = 7); ECE teachers: interviews (n = 8), pilot survey (n = 31), and final survey (n = 136).

Variables measured: Early care and education nutrition education practices used in the classroom either during class time or mealtime.

Analysis: Qualitative content analysis was implemented for content, response process, and consequences of testing validity evidence. Rasch rating scale analysis was conducted for the response process and internal structure validity and reliability evidence.

Results: Qualitative field-testing produced strong content, response process, and consequences of testing validity evidence to inform survey modifications. Quantitative field-testing generated a psychometrically sound, well-targeted 12-item survey on a 4-point frequency scale with excellent item and person reliability (0.97 and 0.93 respectively) and separation (5.36 and 3.77 respectively); good Rasch Principal Components Analysis findings (60.3%); and productive item fit statistics (0.50-1.50 logits).

Conclusions and implications: Robust validity (content, response process, consequences of testing, internal structure) and reliability evidence were demonstrated for using the Preschool Nutrition Education Practices Survey to assess ECE teachers' use of nutrition education practices. Future research is needed to examine its relationship to other variables, such as nutrition teaching efficacy, and to determine its ability to detect change in ECE nutrition education practices over time and across groups.