Food Insecurity among College Students Differs by Questionnaire Modality
An Exploratory Study
Bibliographic Data
Objectives: Literature suggests that college (ie, post-secondary) students experience food insecurity (FI) at alarming rates. However, the commonly used FI questionnaires have undergone limited evaluations for accuracy in this sub-population. The objective of this exploratory study was to evaluate if FI estimates among college students differ by survey distribution modality. Methods: A test-retest study was conducted from October to December 2017. A random sample of undergraduate students (N = 343) participated in an online survey. After completing the survey, a random sample of these students (N = 66; 29%) completed the same items in paper-and-pencil format. Responses were compared with percent agreement and kappa (κ) coefficients. Results: Students were less likely to affirm each item on paper-and-pencil questionnaires. Percent agreement ranged from 71.2% to 96.9% across items, and κ coefficients ranged from poor to fair. FI prevalence differed by 15% between online and paper-and-pencil assessments (40.9% and 25.8%, respectively). Percent agreement for FI categorization was 75.8% and κ=0.47. Conclusions: Differing survey modalities resulted in varying FI classifications in a sample of under-graduate students. Though limited by size and representativeness, this supports the need for further testing of FI surveys, as accurate FI estimates are essential to serving college students
Environmental health · Family medicine · Kappa · Medical education · Population · Representativeness heuristic · Sample (material · Demography · Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations · Mathematics · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,6 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2022 (2) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |