Improving Self-Efficacy Scales for Fruit, Vegetable, and Water Intake
Author Information
Author(s): Tom Baranowski, Kathleen B. Watson, Christine Bachman, Janice C. Baranowski, Karen W. Cullen, Debbe Thompson, Anna-Maria Siega-Riz
Primary Institution: Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine
Hypothesis
Generating items at different levels of difficulty of the behavior would improve the distributional characteristics of the items across the difficulty to agree with latent variable.
Conclusion
The abbreviated scale can reduce participant burden, but further research is needed to improve item distribution across the latent variable.
Supporting Evidence
- Adding items to reflect levels of self-efficacy achieved scale reliability and validity comparable to existing scales.
- The distribution of items across the latent variable did not improve.
- Selecting items from clusters of similar difficulty resulted in an abbreviated scale with comparable psychometric characteristics.
Takeaway
This study tried to make it easier for kids to say how confident they are about eating fruits and vegetables and drinking water, but it still needs more work to get better answers.
Methodology
Cross-sectional assessment using item response modeling and classical test theory to enhance self-efficacy scales.
Potential Biases
Potential response bias due to self-selection and social desirability effects.
Limitations
Some data were discarded due to incomplete responses, and the study did not correct for clustering by school.
Participant Demographics
Participants were 6th grade students, nearly evenly split by gender, with approximately half identifying as Hispanic and over a quarter as Black.
Statistical Information
P-Value
0.033
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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