(P17-028-25) Validity and Reliability of a Diet Quality Screener in a Sample of Participants Enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)

Objectives: This study aims to assess the validity and reliability of a brief parent-reported diet quality screener for young children.

Methods: We obtained data from 174 1-4 year-olds enrolled in a study of WIC. We conducted a cross-sectional evaluation of the psychometric properties of the 16-item rapid Prime Diet Quality Score screener for Kids (rPDQS-Kids), a brief food frequency questionnaire. We evaluated test-retest reliability and internal consistency. We also assessed criterion validity by comparing specific food categories from rPDQS-Kids with average intake from two 24-hr recalls measured via the Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Dietary Assessment Tool (ASA24). We assessed construct validity by testing whether rPDQS-Kids scores were associated with food insecurity and parental education.

Results: The rPDQS-Kids showed moderate test-retest reliability (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient of 0.58 for total healthy component scores and 0.75 for total unhealthy component scores). Internal consistency reliability was also moderate, with Cronbach’s α=0.61 and α=0.65 for the healthy and unhealthy component scores, respectively. Estimates of intake of healthy food categories from rPDQS-Kids were correlated with estimates from ASA24, with Spearman’s r ranging from 0.31 for vegetables to 0.46 for fruits. However, rPDQS-Kids and ASA24 were inversely correlated for unhealthy components, ranging from -0.22 for refined grains to -0.65 for juice. Food insecurity and parental education were not significantly associated with total, healthy, and unhealthy component rPDQS-Kids scores.

Conclusions: The rPDQS-Kids shows potential as a low-burden tool for caregivers to proxy-report young children’s intake of healthful foods like fruits and vegetables, but does not appear valid for assessing intake of less healthful items. More research is needed to develop valid and reliable brief screeners of young children’s diet quality.

Funding Sources: This research was supported by Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.