Validation and Reliability of the Turkish Version of the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) Among Adults

Abstract

BackgroundFood insecurity is a global public health problem characterised by the inability of individuals and households to regularly access sufficient, safe and nutritious food. The objective of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity and reliability of the Turkish adaptation of Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) in the adult population.MethodsA total of 536 individuals (357 females, 179 males) with an average age of 30.1 +/- 10.2 years were involved. Questionnaire consisted of two sections including socio-demographic characteristics and FIES. For the adaptation of the scale to Turkish, the translation-back translation method was employed, involving expert translators for both English-to-Turkish and Turkish-to-English translations. The validation process included confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess the model fit. Data were analyzed using fit indices, descriptive statistics, and CFA for model validation.ResultsThe Cronbach's alpha for the FIES was 0.85, indicating good reliability. In the fit index results, excellent fit was obtained for all indices except the SRMR value, which showed a good fit. The outcomes of the excellence of fit indices were as follows: CMIN/df = 1.261, AFGI = 0.985, GFI = 0.991, IFI = 0.995, CFI = 0.995, RMSEA = 0.031, SRMR = 0.069.ConclusionsThese results show that Turkish version of FIES has structural validity and reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity and reliability in assessing food insecurity in Turkish adult population. The strong psychometric properties of the scale suggest that it can be used in research and policy development processes related to food insecurity. Future studies can further strengthen the findings by evaluating the applicability of the FIES across different socioeconomic groups.Clinical trial numberNot applicable.