Development and validation of the Greek version of the comprehensive parental feeding questionnaire

BACKGROUND: Parental feeding practices can affect children's eating behavior and diet quality. Greek children seem to have poor diet quality and high rates of obesity. Measuring parental feeding practices could facilitate in the formation of target interventions aiming at improving children's eating behaviours. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the current study was to develop and validate the Comprehensive Parental Feeding Questionnaire (CPFQ) in the Greek language. METHODS: The sample consisted of 399 parents (71.2% mothers) of children 2-12 years old. A translation to the Greek language of the CPFQ tool, was conducted followed by a repeatability test, explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis, measures of internal consistency test and factor correlations. RESULTS: Factor analysis resulted in a final questionnaire of 42 items distributed over 6 factors. Cronbach alpha values were adequate (0.64-0.89) and the correlations between factors were low (rho=-0.212 - 0.405). In addition, mothers use more the 'child control' feeding practice (p=0.002), parents with girls use more the 'monitoring' feeding practice (p=0.010) and normal weight parents use less the 'restriction' feeding practice (p=0.047), in comparison to overweight parents. CONCLUSIONS: Results support the reliability and validity of the CPFQ for the Greek population.