TY - JOUR
T1 - Reliability of the nursing child assessment feeding scale during toddlerhood
AU - Hodges, Eric A.
AU - Houck, Gail M.
AU - Kindermann, Thomas
N1 - Funding Information:
The primary author would like to acknowledge funding support for this study from National Institute of Nursing Research grant numbers T32 NR07061 and 1F31 NR08651-01, The Northwest Health Foundation, Nurses Educational Funds, Inc., and the Lindeman and Pearson Scholarship Awards from Oregon Health & Science University. The primary author would also like to acknowledge Drs. Kathryn Barnard, Elizabeth Lecuyer, Sheila Kodadek, and Jennifer O. Fisher for comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript and Laura Tomanka for assistance in observational coding.
PY - 2007/7
Y1 - 2007/7
N2 - The quality of the maternal-child feeding interaction has been proposed to be an important contributor to a child's being overweight, yet assessment of this proposition has been hindered by a lack of age-appropriate instrumentation. The primary aim of this study was to examine the reliability of the Nursing Child Assessment of Feeding Scale (NCAFS) if extended to use during toddlerhood. A longitudinal design was used to assess NCAFS reliability at 12, 24, and 36 months. The NCAFS was used to code videotaped feeding observations of 116 mother-toddler dyads collected as part of a larger study examining mother-child interactions and adaptations of toddlers. Reliability was explored through the assessment of interrater reliability, internal consistency of the various subscales and the scale as a whole, and stability of the scale measurements over time. At each age, interrater reliability was generally quite good whereas the NCAFS' internal consistency was low. Maternal contributions to feeding interaction quality were stable over time but dyadic and child contributions were not. The lower internal consistency estimates were likely due to relatively low levels of variance among the dyads within each age. Another probable contributor to diminished internal consistency was the attrition of several behavior items due to zero variance. Possible explanations for this restriction of variance and several approaches for improving the NCAFS internal consistency during toddlerhood are considered. With revision, the NCAFS could be useful in assessment of feeding interaction quality during the transition to toddlerhood when issues of control and autonomy become increasingly prominent.
AB - The quality of the maternal-child feeding interaction has been proposed to be an important contributor to a child's being overweight, yet assessment of this proposition has been hindered by a lack of age-appropriate instrumentation. The primary aim of this study was to examine the reliability of the Nursing Child Assessment of Feeding Scale (NCAFS) if extended to use during toddlerhood. A longitudinal design was used to assess NCAFS reliability at 12, 24, and 36 months. The NCAFS was used to code videotaped feeding observations of 116 mother-toddler dyads collected as part of a larger study examining mother-child interactions and adaptations of toddlers. Reliability was explored through the assessment of interrater reliability, internal consistency of the various subscales and the scale as a whole, and stability of the scale measurements over time. At each age, interrater reliability was generally quite good whereas the NCAFS' internal consistency was low. Maternal contributions to feeding interaction quality were stable over time but dyadic and child contributions were not. The lower internal consistency estimates were likely due to relatively low levels of variance among the dyads within each age. Another probable contributor to diminished internal consistency was the attrition of several behavior items due to zero variance. Possible explanations for this restriction of variance and several approaches for improving the NCAFS internal consistency during toddlerhood are considered. With revision, the NCAFS could be useful in assessment of feeding interaction quality during the transition to toddlerhood when issues of control and autonomy become increasingly prominent.
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U2 - 10.1080/01460860701525204
DO - 10.1080/01460860701525204
M3 - Article
C2 - 17885829
AN - SCOPUS:34648825651
SN - 0146-0862
VL - 30
SP - 109
EP - 130
JO - Comprehensive Child and Adolescent Nursing
JF - Comprehensive Child and Adolescent Nursing
IS - 3
ER -