An evaluation of the validity and reliability of the Healthy Athletes health promotion questionaire used to assess the dietary intake of Delaware County Special Olympics athletes

摘要

The purpose of this correlational study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Healthy Athlete® Health Promotion questionnaire as an instrument to assess the true dietary habits of Delaware County, Indiana, Special Olympics Athletes. A total of 35 Delaware County Special Olympics athletes completed this study. The athletes’ true dietary habits were estimated using a three-day food record and the Caregiver Questionnaire (CQ). Results indicated the Healthy Athletes Software (HAS) nutrition questions lacked statistical strength in both reliability and validity. The test-retest indicated only one-third of the questions were identified as reliable (Kappa ranged from 0.347 to 0.773; r ranged from 0.356 to 0.794). When compared to the standard, only three of the 15 food items on the HAS questionnaire had a significant relationship to the standard (r coefficients ranged from 0.458 to .777). In contrast, 11 of the 15 food items on the CQ were highly correlated with the three-day food record. The results of this study indicate the need for improvement to make to the HAS nutrition questions more reliable and valid in the assessment of Special Olympics athletes’ dietary habits