Diseño y validación de un cuestionario para evaluar el consumo de sal en escolares del cantón Cuenca

Abstract

The present research work is focused on the design and validation of instruments that can evaluate salt consumption in schoolchildren belonging to the Cuenca canton. The instruments used were two questionnaires: Questionnaire on the frequency of food consumption with the highest sodium intake (QFC) and a questionnaire on knowledge, attitudes and practices related to salt consumption (KAP). The first tool was developed based on a list of foods with a contribution equal to or greater than 100 mg of sodium/ 100 g of food. The second instrument is an adaptation of the published guide of the Pan American Health Organization: “Take care of salt, America” and adapted to the context of Cuenca. For the validation, the final form was applied to 235 students between 7 and 12 years belonging to educational units of Cuenca. The parameters analyzed were: internal consistency through Cronbach's alpha coefficient and the reliability of repeated measurements using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The results of the validation of internal consistency show a high average score α = 0.8418 for the QFC. For the KAP the average value of Cronbach's alpha was not considered and the scores of internal consistency of the constructs had values between moderate and adequate (α = 0.6282 - 0, 6474). Regarding reliability validation, almost perfect values of the intraclass correlation coefficient are obtained for both questionnaires (ICC = 0.8909 - 0.9724). By carrying out this research work it was obtained two valid instruments to evaluate salt consumption in school children in Cuenca