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Health Education Research Advance Access published online on October 31, 2006
Health Education Research, doi:10.1093/her/cyl136
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received February 16, 2006
Accepted September 25, 2006

Original article

Item response modeling: an evaluation of the children's fruit and vegetable self-efficacy questionnaire

Kathy Watson 1 *, Tom Baranowski 1, and Debbe Thompson 1

1 USDA/ARS, Children's Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, 1100 Bates Street, Houston, TX 77030, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Kathy Watson, E-mail: kwatson{at}bcm.tmc.edu


  Abstract

Perceived self-efficacy (SE) for eating fruit and vegetables (FV) is a key variable mediating FV change in interventions. This study applies item response modeling (IRM) to a fruit, juice and vegetable self-efficacy questionnaire (FVSEQ) previously validated with classical test theory (CTT) procedures. The 24-item (five-point Likert scale) FVSEQ was administered to 1578 fourth graders from 26 Houston schools. The IRM partial credit model indicated the five-point response options were not fully utilized. The questionnaire exhibited acceptable (>0.70) reliability except at the extremes of the SE scale. Differential item functioning (DIF) analyses revealed no response bias due to gender. However, DIF was detected by ethnic groups in 10 items. IRM of this scale expanded what was known from CTT methods in three ways: (i) areas of the scale were identified that were not as reliable, (ii) limitations were found in the response format and (c) areas of the SE scale levels were not measured. The FVSEQ can be improved by including items at the extreme levels of difficulty. DIF analyses identified areas where IRM can be useful to improve the functioning of measures.


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