Search

This paper compares a qualitative and a quantitative (Rasch) method of item assessment for developing the content of a food insecurity scale for Bangladesh. Data are derived from the Bangladesh Food Insecurity Measurement and Validation Study, in which researchers collected 2 rounds of ethnographic information and 3 rounds of conventional household survey data between 2001 and 2003. The qualitative method of scale development relied on content experts and respondents themselves to evaluate household food insecurity items generated through ethnographic research. The quantitative method applied the Rasch model to assess the fit of the same items using representative survey data. The Rasch model was then used to test for differential item functioning (DIF) across diverse demographic and geographic subgroups. The qualitative assessment flagged and discarded 10 items, leaving 13. The Rasch assessment of infit and outfit flagged 3 items, and the Rasch DIF test discarded another 10 items, leaving a total of 10 items in the Rasch-derived scale. The 2 scales contained 8 of the same items. The qualitatively and quantitatively derived scales were highly correlated (r = 0.96, P < 0.01), and the 2 methods located 90% of households in the same food insecurity tercile. This convergence lends added confidence to the use of either scale for identifying food-insecure households in different regions of Bangladesh. Multiple methods should continue to be applied in a systematic and transparent way to lend additional credence to the results when they converge and to pinpoint directions for further clarification where they do not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: While fruit and vegetables consumption has been linked to lower risk of chronic disease and obesity, there has not been any large-scale household study to demonstrate an association between fruit and vegetable consumption and healthy weight. Objective: This study analyzes the association between fruit and vegetable consumption and healthy family weight in Mexican families. Methods: The study estimated grams of fruit and vegetable consumption as a proportion of the total household food expenditure from 4,128 households in the Mexican Family Life Survey 2002. Households with pregnant women, underweight members or missing anthropometry measures were excluded from analysis. Remaining households were classified as either "healthy" or "not healthy" based on the presence or absence of an overweight/obese member. Result: Only 8.2% of the households were classified as having a "healthy weight", more so in the rural areas (9.2%) than the urban areas (7.0%) (p<0.05). The mean dietary intake from fruit and vegetable was 25.2±14.4%, and varied by region, p<.001. The conditional logistic regression odds ratio predicting household "healthy" weight status from intake from fruits and vegetables was 2.29, adjusted for socio-economic level, urban/rural area and adult equivalent (p<0.05). Conclusion: Fruit and vegetable consumption significantly predicts healthy family weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]