Adaptação transcultural e análise psicométrica do food-life questionnaire – chort form para mulheres brasileiras: um estudo transversal

Abstract

Eating attitudes play an important role in how people select, prepare, and consume food. They are influenced by environmental and internal factors such as culture, family, health, and education. Eating attitudes are also shaped by gender, age, ethnicity, and health; varying significantly among individuals. The wide range of influences contributes to their multifaceted nature, making eating attitudes difficult to measure. Consequently, there is a lack of specific instruments to assess eating attitudes, hindering scientific progress in the field. Although, eating attitudes measures are available, most of the available instruments mainly assess disordered eating behaviors and attitudes. The Food Life Questionnaire – Short Form (FLQ-SF) captures various dimensions of eating attitudes, including weight concern, healthoriented eating, beliefs in a diet-health link, pleasure in eating, and preferences for natural foods. To date, there is no known Portuguese (Brazil) version of the FLQ-SF. Thus, the present study aimed to cross-culturally adapt and evaluate the psychometric properties of the FLQ-SF for use in young Brazilian adult women aged 18 to 35. This sequential methodological research involved 604 participants who completed online a sociodemographic questionnaire, the FLQ-SF, and six other scales assessing intuitive eating, body functionality, cognitive restrictive, uncontrolled and emotional eating behaviors, body appreciation, frequency of thoughts and emotional valence, and intuitive versus deliberate decision-making regarding food. In the initial stage, the FLQ-SF was culturally adapted from English to Portuguese (Brazil) following translation, translation synthesis, back-translation, expert committee, and instrument pre-testing phases. The empirical evaluation included exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analyses, convergent validity tests, and reliability analysis of the FLQ-SF. During the cross-cultural adaptation, adequate conceptual, cultural, semantic, idiomatic, and operational equivalences of the FLQSF were achieved. When applied to Brazilian young adult women, good verbal comprehension was observed. Regarding empirical phase, support was obtained for a 17-item (χ²/df = 2.09; CFI = 0.95; TLI = 0.94; RMSEA = 0.05 [CI 90% = 0.04; 0.06; p > 0.05]; and SRMR = 0.08) and a four-factor structure (weight concern, healthoriented eating, belief in a diet-health link, and pleasure in eating). Additionally, good internal consistency was observed for all FLQ-SF subscales (McDonald's ω = 0.79- 0.89). Evidence of convergent validity was found, revealing correlations between food attitudes, weight concern, food decision-making, and meal planning. In conclusion, the Brazilian version of the FLQ-SF emerges as a measure for assessing eating beliefs and attitudes among Brazilian young adult women, promising for guiding health interventions and reducing risks of diet-related diseases.