Development of a tool for food literacy assessment for young adults: findings from a Korean validation study

Background and Objectives: There is little research on the development and validation of measurement tools to evaluate integrative concepts of food literacy; however, this is a growing research area. Methods and Study Design: A food literacy measurement tool for young Korean adults was developed in three phases: (1) tool development and content validation using the Delphi method (2) pilot testing (n=108) and (3) confirmatory study (n=435) and internal consistency using Cronbach's a and the test-retest for reliability. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Feedback from the Delphi rounds resulted in modification and rewording of nine items, yielding 105 items with acceptable content validity ratio (CVR). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed an eight-factor construct: food and nutrition knowledge, food safety, food systems, sociocultural context, food skill, food choice, self-efficacy, and food resource management. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated that the validated tool met the acceptable indices of basic psychometric standards, and internal consistency was satisfactory for all subscales (Cronbach's alpha >0.70). Conclusions: A validated food literacy assessment tool for young Korean adults was developed.