Development and validation of a nutrition literacy assessment tool for young adults

Purpose: This study was conducted to develop, validate, and assess the reliability of a questionnaire for nutritional literacy among young Korean adults. Methods: The draft questionnaire contained 65 items in 7 domains (i.e., dietary guideline, nutrition and health, nutrients, 5 food groups [food bicycle], nutrition labeling, portion size, and nutrition management for disease prevention). The authors developed a draft questionnaire based on a literature review. After multiple drafts, 52 items were retained and 13 were eliminated in the 7 domains according to professional advice from 5 nutrition experts. A panel of experts (n = 20) comprised of clinical dietitians and nutrition professors completed the content validity assessment, including quantitative and qualitative feedback. As the results, all items of the portion size were eliminated from the questionnaire. A sample of 211 young adults completed the test-retest reliability assessment. Test-retest reliability was evaluated using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and inter-item reliability by Cronbach α coefficient. Results: The final questionnaire contained 30 items with 5 questions each on the dietary guideline, nutrition and health, nutrients, 5 food groups (food bicycle), nutrition labeling, and nutrition management for disease prevention. The Lawshe content validity ratio for domains ranged from 0.60 to 1.00. The ICC scores for questions ranged from 0.64 to 0.86. Cronbach's α for domains ranged from 0.83 to 0.90 and for the overall questionnaire was 0.87. Conclusion: The questionnaire showed strong content validity, test-retest reliability, and high inter-item reliability, indicating that it is a useful tool for assessing nutritional literacy of young adults.