Development of the Canadian Eating Practices Screener to assess eating practices based on 2019 Canada's Food Guide recommendations.

In 2019, Health Canada released a new iteration of Canada's Food Guide (2019-CFG), which, for the first time, highlighted recommendations regarding eating practices, i.e., guidance on where, when, why, and how to eat. The objective of this study was to develop a brief self-administered screener to assess eating practices recommended in the 2019-CFG among adults aged 18-65 years. Development of the screener items was informed by a review of existing tools and mapping of items onto 2019-CFG recommendations. Face and content validity were assessed with experts in public health nutrition and/or dietary assessment ( n  = 16) and individuals from Government of Canada ( n  = 14). Cognitive interviews were conducted with English-speaking ( n  = 16) and French-speaking ( n  = 16) adults living in Canada to assess face validity and understanding of the screener items. While some modifications were identified to improve relevance or clarity, overall, the screener items were found to be relevant, well-constructed, and clearly worded. This comprehensive process resulted in the Canadian Eating Practices Screener/Questionnaire court canadien sur les pratiques alimentaires, which includes 21 items that assess eating practices recommended in the 2019-CFG. This screener can facilitate monitoring and surveillance efforts of the 2019-CFG eating practices as well as research exploring how these practices are associated with various health outcomes.
Competing Interests: This project was funded by Health Canada through a contract to JH. JH has received funding from the Canadian Foundation for Dietetic Research, CIHR, Danone Institute International, Danone Institute North America, Health Canada, and the National Institutes of Health. SIK has received funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, AI for Good, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canadian Foundation for Dietetic Research, Health Canada, the National Institutes of Health, the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. SIK is a member of the Health Canada Nutrition Science Advisory Committee and the CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism, and Diabetes Institute Advisory Board. SL has received funding from CIHR. BL has received funding from CIHR (ongoing), the Fonds de recherche du Québec—Santé (FRQS) (ongoing), Fonds de recherche du Québec—Nature et technologies (NT) (ongoing), the Ministère de la santé et des services sociaux (MSSS) du Québec (ongoing), Health Canada (completed in 2021), and Atrium Innovations (completed in 2019). BL is a member of the Canadian Nutrition Society Advisory Board. The remaining authors have no competing interests to disclose.