Reliability of the General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire among Head Teachers from Schools in Uganda

Valid and reliable questionnaires are necessary to improve the existence and quality of nutrition information, which determines interventions in low-resource settings, especially among decision makers and change agents.

The present study evaluated the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the data collected among 255 head teachers from schools in Mukono and Wakiso districts in Uganda using a general nutrition knowledge questionnaire (GNKQ) earlier developed. Cronbach alpha (α) was used to determine internal consistency. Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) and intraclass correlation coefficient were used to measure test-retest dependability on scores (ICC2,1).

Overall internal consistency on 94 items was α = 0.89 at time one and 0.92 at time two. All items yielded data with a satisfactory internal consistency (α > 0.7). Two domains, Expert advice (ICC = 0.64) and Selecting food (ICC = 0.41), were determined to have insufficient test-retest reliability (r < 0.7 and ICC = 0.7), and their items were removed from the next analyses. The remaining nutrition knowledge topics with adequate test-retest reliability were food groupings (ICC = 0.9), nutrition and sickness (ICC = 0.91), and food fortification (ICC = 0.95). According to the findings, the prototype nutrition knowledge questionnaire had acceptable internal consistency and test-retest reliability.

These findings indicate that the previously established questionnaire can be used to assess general nutrition knowledge among head teachers. To boost generalizability, future studies could use the questionnaire on a different group of adults.