Development of a Food Allergy Knowledge Test for Parents

Abstract

Objective: To create a measure of food allergy (FA) knowledge for parents of children with FA.

Methods: The food allergy knowledge test (FAKT) was developed following rigorous test-construction guidelines. The preliminary 110-item pool content was developed in consultation with FA experts. After cognitive interviews and revisions, an 88-item preliminary version was administered to 370 parents of children with FA who were recruited online and from an allergy clinic. After item difficulty, discrimination, item-scale correlations analyses, and assessment of internal consistency, a revised 57-item version was administered to a new clinic-based sample (77 parents).

Results: The revised FAKT was highly reliable (α =.86). Validity analyses revealed positive correlations ( r = .23-.57) between FAKT scores and parent age, education, insurance status, access to FA information, and auto-injector use.

Conclusions: The FAKT was determined to have strong psychometrics and be appropriately reliable and valid, with clinical and research applications.

Keywords: assessment; chronic illness; parents; patient education.