Psychosocial measures used to assess the effectiveness of school-based nutrition education programs: Review and analysis of self-report instruments for children 8 to 12 years old

Objective: To identify the psychometric properties of evaluation instruments that measure mediators of dietary behaviors in school-aged children. Design: Systematic search of scientific databases limited to 1999-2010. Main Outcome Measures: Psychometric properties related to development and testing of self-report instruments for children 8-12 years old. Analysis: Systematic search of 189 articles and review of 15 instruments (20 associated articles) meeting the inclusion criteria. Search terms used included children, school, nutrition, diet, nutrition education, and evaluation. Results: Fourteen studies used a theoretical framework to guide the instrument's development. Knowledge and self-efficacy were the most commonly used psychosocial measures. Twelve instruments focused on specific nutrition-related behaviors. Eight instruments included over 40 items and used age-appropriate response formats. Acceptable reliability properties were most commonly reported for attitude and self-efficacy measures. Although most of the instruments were reviewed by experts (n = 8) and/or pilot-tested (n = 9), only 7 were tested using both rigorous types of validity and with low-income youth. Conclusions and Implications: Results from this review suggest that additional research is needed to develop more robust psychosocial measures for dietary behaviors, for low-income youth audiences.