Validation of a fruit, juice, and vegetable availability questionnaire

Objective: To assess the validity of a self-reported fruit,juice, and vegetable home availability measure. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: In-home interviews. Participants: Forty-eight parents of fourth to sixth grade children. Main Outcome Measures: Scales assessing self-reported home availability of fruit, 100% fruit juice, and vegetables over the past 7 days compared with an observed home inventory conducted on the interview day. Analyses: Cohen's kappa of agreement, specificity and sensitivity, and correlations, with significance level < .05. Results: There was substantial agreement between self-reported and observed home inventories of many fruit, 100% fruit juice, and vegetables among participating families in this study. Conclusions and Implications: Self-reported shelf inventories can be an effective tool for use in assessing the availability of fruit,juice, and vegetables in the home.