Developing a measure of eating attitudes and behaviours in cystic fibrosis

• Main Author: Randlesome, Katy
• Published: University of London 2011
• Subjects: 616.372
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.589453

Poor nutritional (underweight) status in cystic fibrosis (CF) is associated with poorer health outcomes and ultimately a decreased survival rate. Eating / disorders or disturbances in eating attitudes and behaviours (DEABs) may contribute to poor nutritional status in people with CF. Existing measures of DEABs developed for the general population are unsuitable for use in CF due to the different meaning of some of these items in a CF population and a failure to assess CF-related eating attitudes and behaviours (EABs). This study aimed to develop a measure of EABs likely to be associated with poor nutritional status specifically for the CF population. The study had three parts: firstly, the formal evaluation of a draft CF-eating attitudes and behaviours (CFEAB) measure's content validity via an expert evaluation of the items and a literature review and secondly, the piloting of an amended CFEAB measure with participants with CF using a cognitive interviewing procedure to assess the measure's practical ease of use and understanding. Finally, a further amended CFEAB measure was administered to a large development sample of people with CF attending routine clinics. The final CFEAB measure resulting from this displayed adequate psychometric properties with a three- factor structure ('Eating-Disorders' 'CF-related EAB' (provisionally named) and 'Appetite') with good internal consistencies for the subscales (0.92, 0.84, 0.83) and whole measure (0.90). The final CFEAB measure displayed some initial evidence of construct validity in its relationships with related variables including an existing measure of DEABs. Some ambiguities regarding the interpretation of the CFEAB measure's subscales need to be clarified, as well as further evidence for its construct validity sought, in future studies. The 3 ~ .. ----------------------------------- CFEAB measure looks promising as a tool to highlight disturbances in EABs that will benefit from further assessment and targeted interventions, as appropriate.