Evaluation of the reliability and validity of a Caregivers’ Complementary Feeding Practice Scale (CCFPS) for children aged 6–23 months in urban areas of China

TL;DR

This study evaluates a scale to measure caregivers' feeding practices for young children in urban China and finds it reliable and valid for use.

Contribution

The study provides empirical validation of a new tool for assessing complementary feeding practices in Chinese urban settings.

Findings

The CCFPS showed acceptable reliability with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.783 and a split-half coefficient of 0.750.

The six-factor structure of the scale explained 51.43% of the total variance and demonstrated good validity.

The scale is suitable for use in research and clinical settings for children aged 6–23 months in urban China.

Abstract

Caregivers’ feeding practices significantly influence children’s eating behaviours. We previously developed a Caregivers’ Complementary Feeding Practice Scale (CCFPS) for children aged 6–23 months in China. We aimed to comprehensively assess the CCFPS's reliability and validity, thus establishing a reliable and robust tool for evaluating caregivers’ feeding practices.

Through convenience sampling, we recruited 928 caregivers from community health centres. We assessed the scale’s reliability with Cronbach's alpha and split-half analysis. Additionally, we used the content validity index (CVI) for content validity. Lastly, we examined structural validity with exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

The scale's Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.783, and its split-half reliability coefficient reached 0.750. The CVI was 0.910. EFA supported the scale's six-factor structure, which explained 51.43% of the total variance. The CFA results demonstrated that the fit indices of the model were higher than the acceptable level, indicating the scale provides a good level of validity.

The CCFPS is a reliable and valid tool for assessing caregivers’ feeding practices with infants and young children aged 6 to 23 months in urban China, suitable for research and clinical applications.