The Child-care Food and Activity Practices Questionnaire (CFAPQ): development and first validation steps

Jessica S. Gubbels*, Ester F.C. Sleddens, Lieke C. H. Raaijmakers, Judith M. Gies, Stef P. J. Kremers

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate a questionnaire to measure food-related and activity-related practices of child-care staff, based on existing, validated parenting practices questionnaires. DESIGN: A selection of items from the Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire (CFPQ) and the Preschooler Physical Activity Parenting Practices (PPAPP) questionnaire was made to include items most suitable for the child-care setting. The converted questionnaire was pre-tested among child-care staff during cognitive interviews and pilot-tested among a larger sample of child-care staff. Factor analyses with Varimax rotation and internal consistencies were used to examine the scales. Spearman correlations, t tests and ANOVA were used to examine associations between the scales and staff's background characteristics (e.g. years of experience, gender). SETTING: Child-care centres in the Netherlands. SUBJECTS: The qualitative pre-test included ten child-care staff members. The quantitative pilot test included 178 child-care staff members. RESULTS: The new questionnaire, the Child-care Food and Activity Practices Questionnaire (CFAPQ), consists of sixty-three items (forty food-related and twenty-three activity-related items), divided over twelve scales (seven food-related and five activity-related scales). The CFAPQ scales are to a large extent similar to the original CFPQ and PPAPP scales. The CFAPQ scales show sufficient internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha ranging between 0.53 and 0.96, and average corrected item-total correlations within acceptable ranges (0.30-0.89). Several of the scales were significantly associated with child-care staff's background characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Scale psychometrics of the CFAPQ indicate it is a valid questionnaire that assesses child-care staff's practices related to both food and activities.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1964-1975
Number of pages12
JournalPublic Health Nutrition
Volume19
Issue number11
Early online date4 Dec 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2016

Keywords

  • Child care
  • Comprehensive Feeding Practices
  • Questionnaire
  • Day care
  • Feeding
  • Nutrition
  • Parenting practices
  • Physical activity
  • Preschooler Physical Activity
  • Parenting Practices
  • ASSOCIATIONS
  • ENVIRONMENT
  • SETTINGS
  • DIETARY-INTAKE
  • PARENTAL FEEDING PRACTICES
  • OBESITY PREVENTION
  • PRESCHOOL-CHILDREN
  • WORKING GROUP
  • PROVIDERS
  • PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY

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