Development and Validation of the Knowledge Test on Balanced Diet Consumption for Cambodian University Students

Abstract

Objective: To develop and validate the Knowledge Test on Balanced Diet Consumption (KTBDC) for Cambodian university students based on the recommendation for balanced diet consumption of the World Health Organization. Methods: Literature review and individual face to face interview with Cambodian university students were used to guide the development of the KTBDC. The developed KTBDC consisted of 25 questions with the contents on knowledge on general recommendations for balanced diet consumption, calorie comparison and estimation of the amount of carbohydrate, protein, and fiber in food. Three response options for each question were “yes”, “no” and “don’t know”. Each question was assessed for its face validity and content validity, using item objective congruence index (IOC), by 3 experts. Subsequently, the KTBDC was administered to 95 university students at bachelor’s degree level in Cambodia. Difficulty index (P_i) and discrimination power index (D_i) were calculated for each question. The overall difficulty and discrimination power of the KTBDC were calculated from the average difficulty index () and the average discrimination power index () respectively. The reliability of the test was assessed using Kuder-Richardson 20 (KR-20). Results:  Fifty subjects were female (52.6%). Mean age of the subjects was 22.3±1.9 (rage: 18-27) years old. All 25 questions being developed had the IOC score> 0.5. The overall difficulty index of the KTBDC was at moderate level (: 0.49) and the overall discrimination power index was at an excellent level ( >0.67). The overall reliability was 0.92. Conclusion: The KTBDC was congruent with the objective of the test, and the internal consistency of the test was high, suggesting that it was a valid and reliable test to assess knowledge about balanced diet consumption in Cambodian university students. The future study should focus on the generalizability of the test to other populations and contexts to ensure that it is appropriate for broader use.