Browsing by Author "Wolfson, Julia A."

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    An evaluation and shortening of the Cooking and Food Provisioning Action Scale (CAFPAS) using item response theory
    Karlsson, Simon; Harris, Kathryn L.; Melin, Jeanette; Lahne, Jacob; Wolfson, Julia A.; Collier, Elizabeth S. (Elsevier, 2023-05)
    The Cooking and Food Provisioning Action Scale (CAFPAS) is a 28-item validated tool for measuring food agency, a latent construct representing an individual's ability to make and achieve food-preparation and -pro-visioning goals. Here, key measurement parameters (targeting, threshold ordering, item fit, unidimensionality, differential item functioning, local dependency, and person reliability) of the CAFPAS are evaluated using a specific case of item response theory, Rasch analysis, on data from a development sample (N = 1853; 910 from Sweden; 943 from the US). Winsteps (v.5.1.7) is used for this analysis. The similarity of the Swedish version of the CAFPAS to the original is also assessed. Based on an iterative assessment of the measurement properties with different combinations of items in the development sample, ways to shorten the CAFPAS without jeopardizing construct validity or person reliability are examined. After removing items that do not fit the Rasch model, or that appear redundant in relation to other items, an 11-item version (CAFPAS-short) is suggested and tested using further Rasch analysis on both the development sample and an additional US-based validation sample (N = 1457). Scores of cooking confidence and attitudes are then modelled with measures from the CAFPAS and CAFPAS-short using frequentist and Bayesian analysis. Results suggest that the CAFPAS-short performs similarly to the full-length version, and potential future improvements to the CAFPAS are discussed. This study represents a successful application of item response theory to investigate and shorten a psychometric scale, reducing cognitive load on participants in studies using the CAFPAS whilst minimizing loss of data reliability.
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    Food Agency in the United States: Associations with Cooking Behavior and Dietary Intake
    Wolfson, Julia A.; Lahne, Jacob; Raj, Minakshi; Insolera, Noura; Lavelle, Fiona; Dean, Moira (MDPI, 2020-03-24)
    “Food agency” is one’s ability to procure and prepare food within the contexts of one’s social, physical, and economic environment. In 2018, we used Amazon TurkPrime to field two large national surveys in the United States (US) to examine food agency and several food- and cooking-related factors. The first survey (n = 1,457) was fielded in a national sample of US adults. The second survey (n = 1,399) comprised of parents of 2–9-year-old children. Analyses included hierarchical linear regression to examine factors that explained variation in food agency and used Poisson and generalized linear models to examine the association between food agency and between cooking behavior and dietary intake, respectively. Cooking skills; food skills; and cooking confidence, attitudes, and perceptions explained a high degree of food agency variance. Higher food agency was associated with more frequent cooking of all meals, more frequent scratch cooking, and less frequent cooking with packaged ingredients among both adults and parents. Higher food agency was also associated with higher consumption of vegetables among both adults and children. Food agency encompasses a number of the interrelated factors important for home cooking and is a useful construct for understanding and promoting home cooking behavior.
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    A Qualitative Study of Motivators, Strategies, Barriers, and Learning Needs Related to Healthy Cooking during Pregnancy
    Garcia, Travertine; Duncanson, Kerith; Shrewsbury, Vanessa A.; Wolfson, Julia A. (MDPI, 2021-07-13)
    Nutrition during pregnancy has lifelong impacts on the health of mother and child. However, this life stage presents unique challenges to healthy cooking and eating. Cooking interventions show promising results, but often lack theoretical basis and rigorous evaluation. The objective of this formative, qualitative study was to explore motivators, strategies, and barriers related to healthy cooking during pregnancy. Pregnant individuals’ preferences for a cooking education program were also explored. We conducted five focus groups with pregnant individuals (n = 20) in Southeast Michigan in 2019. Focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim, then double coded by two members of the research team. Mean gestational age was 18.3 ± 9.6 weeks. Common motivators included feeding other children, avoiding pregnancy complications, promoting fetal growth, and avoiding foodborne illness. Challenges included pregnancy symptoms, navigating nutrition recommendations, mental energy of meal planning, family preferences, and time constraints. Strategies employed were meal planning and including a variety of foods. Participants identified organizational strategies, recipes, nutrition information, and peer support as important components of a cooking intervention during pregnancy. This study characterized multiple challenges to healthy home cooking during pregnancy, providing novel insight to inform the development of cooking skills education programs during this important life stage.