Table 1.
Evaluation measures for children and parents participating in the Fuel for Fun studya
| Target measurement | Instrument/Process | Description | Child | Parent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual Level | ||||
| Demographics | Child age, birthdate, gender, race and ethnicity; parent gender, age, race and ethnicity, nutrition and food assistance program participation, level of schooling, serious disease diagnosis | Child information obtained from class rosters provided by schools; parent information is self-reported as part of an online parent survey | X | X |
| Height/weight | Child measured; parent self-report | Child data collected by research team using standard protocol; parent self-reported as part of online survey | X | X |
| Dietary intake assessment (24-h recalls)b | Student-telephone | The Pennsylvania State University Diet Assessment Center protocol | X | X |
| Parent-online | ||||
| Physical activity | 7-day accelerometry (75 hz; GENEActiv)c | 7 days of free living, wrist-mounted accelerometry data from children and their parents; customized Matlab program will sum child and parent accelerations over 1 and 60 s, respectively, and apply published GENEActiv cutpoints to determine amount of time in MVPA weekday, weekend day, and specific time periods (before school, school-day, after-school, and evening) | X | X |
| Minutes/week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA); adaptation of Godin/Shephard questionnaire [62] | Students asked days/week and minutes/day of vigorous, moderate, and mild activity during free time; responses for vigorous and moderate PA summed for total MVPA. | X | ||
| Screen time | Numbers of hours spent/day watching TV, playing video games or using a computer (not for homework). Responses 0–11 h | X | ||
| Stage of change for regular physical activity [42, 43] | Students asked “Do you do regular physical activity as described?” Each of 5 responses correspond to one of the stages of Transtheoretical Model | X | ||
| International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) [63] | Responses converted to met-min/week and identified as low, moderate, and high activity categories | X | ||
| Cooking experience | Cooking with Kids Student Survey [38] | Do you cook with family? Do you cook with friends? Do you cook? yes or no response options | X | |
| Fruit and vegetable preferences | Cooking with Kids Student Survey | Preference for 7 fruits and 11 vegetables; 18 items, 5 response options, scored from 1 to 5, possible score 18–90. Cronbach’s α 0.82 | X | |
| Cooking self-efficacy | Cooking with Kids Student Survey | Self-efficacy for skills related to cooking; 8 items, 5 response options, scored from 1 to 5, possible score 8–40. Cronbach’s α 0.70 | X | |
| Cooking attitudes | Cooking with Kids Student Survey | Attitude toward cooking and making food; 6 items, 5 response options, scored from 1 to 5, possible score 6–30.Cronbach’s α 0.76 | X | |
| Eating Competence: | Satter Eating Competence Inventory (ecSI 2.0) [44] | Parents: 16 items, 5 response options scored from 3 to 0. Possible score 0–48; scores 32 indicate eating competence. Cronbach’s α 0.89 | X | X |
| Students: FU1 3 Eating attitudes and behavior items; possible score 0–9 | ||||
| FU2 16 items, 5 response options scored from 3 to 0 Possible score 0–48; scores 32 indicate eating competence. Cronbach’s α 0.89 | ||||
| Food resource management skills | Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) adults core behavior checklist questions [64] | 13 items, 5 response options. Mean value for each item | X | |
| Culinographics (cooking practices demographics) | Questions from Krall and Lohse [44] | 7 items, multiple choice | X | |
| Modeling eating behavior | Modeling Scale. Sample items: How often do you eat dinner with your child? | 11-items from modified scale, each with 4 response options. Possible scores 0–33. Cronbach’s α 0.77 | X | |
| How often do you eat vegetables at dinner with your child? [65] | ||||
| Self-efficacy/Outcome expectancies (SE/OE) | Perceived ability to offer fruits and vegetables that their child will eat. Sample item: I can prepare vegetables that my child will like. [66] | 12-items modified from tested measure each with 5 response options. Possible scores 12–60. Cronbach’s a 0.93 | X | |
| In-home fruit and vegetable availability | Fruit and vegetable availability inventory. [46] | 20 items (fresh, frozen, canned fruits, vegetables and 100 % juices) listed. Availability was affirmed or denied. Possible scores 0–20 | X | |
| Parenting Style | Caregiver’s Feeding Style Questionnaire [67] | 19 items, 5 response options. Scores converted to 4 caregiver feeding styles. | X | |
| Parent Perceived Stress | Single item from the Community Health Database [68] | Visual analog scale from 0 (no stress) to 10 (extreme stress). | X | |
| Group Level | ||||
| Plate waste assessmentd | Digital photography [51] | Pre-consumption reference trays and post consumption trays photographed; plate waste of each food item estimated to nearest 10 % | X | |
| Physical activity assessment/observatione | SOPLAY observation [26] | Validated tool for direct observation of physical activity associated and environmental characteristics in free play settings. MVPA and estimates of energy expenditure are calculated from activity counts | X | |
aMeasures collected at Baseline, month 7 and month 12
bDietary intake assessment completed with a subsample of up to 100 parent/child dyads
cAccelerometry measured on a subsample of children and parents from 3 of the 8 participating schools
dPlate waste estimated from lunches of all assenting 4th-grade students participating the National School Lunch Program
eSystem of Observing Play and Leisure Activity in Youth; conducted at all 8 participating schools during lunch time recess