Initial development of the Sugar‐Sweetened Fruit Drink Questionnaire for examining beliefs, knowledge, and behaviors in an intervention to reduce sugar‐sweetened fruit drink intake in Alaska Native children

Abstract

AbstractObjectiveAlaska Native children may be at increased risk for dental caries because of added sugar intake from sugar‐sweetened fruit drinks. This study describes development of a questionnaire to (a) assess Alaska Native caregivers' beliefs, knowledge, and behaviors regarding sugar‐sweetened fruit drinks, and (b) describe behavior changes within a community‐based intervention.MethodsQuestionnaire development was conducted in three phases with Yup'ik Alaska Native caregivers in Southwest Alaska: (1) initial selection and adaptation of questionnaire items; (2) cognitive testing; and (3) data collection. The Sugar‐Sweetened Fruit Drink Questionnaire (SFDQ) contains 31 culturally‐tailored items across six areas: beliefs/values, environment/skills, knowledge, motivation, self‐efficacy, and behaviors.ResultsEighty‐one percent of caregivers gave their children sugar‐sweetened fruit drinks. Motivations included: what they grew up with (52%), few other options (46%), makes child happy (46%), healthier than soda (45%), and others in community drink them (42%). On average, 93% of caregivers believed drinking a lot of sugar‐sweetened fruit drinks leads to cavities in children and caregivers agreed (mean 4.1 on 5‐point scale, 5 = strongly agree) it is important to limit sugar‐sweetened fruit drinks. Among a sub‐sample of respondents (n = 20), we found low to moderate temporal stability in some SFDQ items over a 10–14 day period, indicating respondent ambivalence and/or uncertainty.ConclusionsUsing community‐based participatory research methods, we developed a culturally tailored exploratory questionnaire that will be used to describe changes in caregiver knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, self‐efficacy, and behavior within a planned intervention to reduce sugar‐sweetened fruit drink intake in Alaska Native children.