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Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Reliability of the Athlete Food Choice Questionnaire in Diverse Settings
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol.19(16), pp.1-13
2022
Abstract
Understanding the factors that influence an athletes’ food choice is important to supporting optimal dietary intake. The Athlete Food Choice Questionnaire (AFCQ) is a new validated tool for assisting practitioners and researchers to understand athlete eating behaviours. However, the AFCQ previously has only been applied at international competition events. This observational study explored the online application of the AFCQ outside of the competition environment with detailed examination of factor reliability. The AFCQ factors include ‘nutritional attributes of the food’, ‘emotional influences’, ‘food and health awareness’, ‘influence of others’, ‘usual eating practices’, ‘weight control’, ‘food values and beliefs’, ‘sensory appeal’, and ‘performance’. A total of 131 athletes, representing 19 countries and 36 sports, participated using an online questionnaire. Reliability via Cronbach’s alpha (α) and item correlation scores were compared to those from previous competition events. Acceptable reliability was attained for seven of the nine factors (α ≥ 0.7, range 0.70–0.92). ‘Food values and beliefs’ and ‘usual eating practices’ (α = 0.60, 0.64) were tolerable and consistent against previous major competition samples, indicating that the setting is unlikely responsible for lower reliability scores. Three factors (‘emotional influence’; ‘nutritional attributes of the food’; ‘influence of others’) differed in reliability between the online sample compared to one or both major competition samples. The ‘religious food beliefs’ item within the ‘food values and beliefs’ factor may warrant removal due to recurrent low internal consistency. This study confirms the AFCQ’s reliability regardless of competition phase and supports use of the AFCQ for understanding the eating behaviours of athletes.
Details
- Title
- Reliability of the Athlete Food Choice Questionnaire in Diverse Settings
- Authors
- Rachael Thurecht (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health and Behavioural Sciences - LegacyFiona Pelly (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health and Behavioural Sciences - LegacySarah Burkhart (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research
- Publication details
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol.19(16), pp.1-13
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Date published
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.3390/ijerph19169981
- ISSN
- 1660-4601; 1661-7827
- Copyright note
- This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Organisation Unit
- Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Health - Nutrition & Dietetics; School of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Legacy
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99663298402621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Web Of Science research areas
- Environmental Sciences
- Public, Environmental & Occupational Health