Abstract
Objective
To identify and review data collection techniques used to measure preschool children’s
knowledge of food and nutrition.
Design
A systematic review of published research guided by the Preferred Reported Items for
Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses statement.
Participants
Published journal articles between 1980 and 2013 reporting research involving the
measurement of preschool children’s (aged 3–5 years) knowledge of food and nutrition.
Results
Twenty studies were eligible for inclusion. The studies reported the use of a range
of innovative age-appropriate techniques to assess children’s knowledge of food and
nutrition. Data collection techniques were grouped under 3 broad approaches: (1) interviews,
(2) use of stimulus material and prompts, and (3) structured play-based activities.
Only 3 of the reviewed studies tested for both reliability (test-retest and internal
consistency) and face and content validity. Only 9 of the reviewed studies reported
pilot-testing their instruments before use.
Conclusions and Implications
Results from this review suggest that additional research is needed to develop more
valid and reliable measures to assess preschool children’s knowledge of food and nutrition.
Assessment tools need to be pilot-tested, refined, and adapted to suit both the specific
audience and the components of the nutrition knowledge being targeted by an intervention
before implementing a nutrition education program.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 11, 2015
Accepted:
March 26,
2015
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors’ conflict of interest disclosures can be found online with this article on www.jneb.org.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
