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Sunday, November 1, 2009: 4:55 PM
Background: Regular physical activity and a nutritious diet are essential to a healthy lifestyle. Foundational to performing a behavior is knowledge. Knowledge scales of physical activity and nutrition for adolescents are lacking in the literature.
Purpose: The purpose of this instrumentation study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Adolescent Activity and Nutrition Knowledge Scales.
Methods: The Adolescent Activity Knowledge Scale is a 12-item instrument tapping knowledge of physical activity. The Adolescent Nutrition Knowledge Scale is a 20-item instrument tapping knowledge of nutrition. The scales assess knowledge of basic information necessary to live a healthy lifestyle. Sample questions from the Activity Scale include “Exercise helps to reduce stress” and “Dancing is exercise.” Sample questions from the Nutrition Scale include “A fruit rollup is a good fruit choice” and “White bread has as much fiber in it as wheat bread.” Items are answered “Yes”, “No”, or “Don’t Know”. Initial testing of the instruments included face validity that was established with 10 teens. Content validity was established by 8 adolescent specialists.
The scales were administered to 400 adolescents at two high schools during a health/PE course in the southwest. The mean age of respondents was 15.1 years with 52% female. Cronbach’s alpha for the Activity Knowledge Scale was .69 and .86 for the Nutrition Knowledge Scale. Significant differences in responses were found between the two schools varying in SES and white/non-white students on both scales. Additionally, girls scored significantly higher than boys on the Nutrition Scale and non-overweight/obese students scored significantly higher than overweight/obese students on the Activity Scale.
Implications: Understanding the knowledge of adolescents regarding activity and nutrition is important when developing intervention programs for adolescents and working with them in the clinical setting. The Activity and Nutrition Scales allow the assessment of change in knowledge when assessing intervention effect.
Purpose: The purpose of this instrumentation study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Adolescent Activity and Nutrition Knowledge Scales.
Methods: The Adolescent Activity Knowledge Scale is a 12-item instrument tapping knowledge of physical activity. The Adolescent Nutrition Knowledge Scale is a 20-item instrument tapping knowledge of nutrition. The scales assess knowledge of basic information necessary to live a healthy lifestyle. Sample questions from the Activity Scale include “Exercise helps to reduce stress” and “Dancing is exercise.” Sample questions from the Nutrition Scale include “A fruit rollup is a good fruit choice” and “White bread has as much fiber in it as wheat bread.” Items are answered “Yes”, “No”, or “Don’t Know”. Initial testing of the instruments included face validity that was established with 10 teens. Content validity was established by 8 adolescent specialists.
The scales were administered to 400 adolescents at two high schools during a health/PE course in the southwest. The mean age of respondents was 15.1 years with 52% female. Cronbach’s alpha for the Activity Knowledge Scale was .69 and .86 for the Nutrition Knowledge Scale. Significant differences in responses were found between the two schools varying in SES and white/non-white students on both scales. Additionally, girls scored significantly higher than boys on the Nutrition Scale and non-overweight/obese students scored significantly higher than overweight/obese students on the Activity Scale.
Implications: Understanding the knowledge of adolescents regarding activity and nutrition is important when developing intervention programs for adolescents and working with them in the clinical setting. The Activity and Nutrition Scales allow the assessment of change in knowledge when assessing intervention effect.