Development and validation of Tanzania’s food literacy tool for adults: implications for healthy eating behaviours
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Date
2025
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Abstract
The study aimed to develop and validate a food literacy tool for Tanzanian adults. The
Tanzanian nutrition, food and health promotion experts evaluated the initial twenty-three-
question food literacy tool for its relevance to the context, where its content validity was
determined. The construct validity involved the analysis of food literacy information collected
in a cross-sectional study involving 709 adults (484 females and 225 males) sampled from rural
and urban Tanzania. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to explore the underlying factor
structure and identify the number of latent constructs. A confirmatory factor analysis using
structural equation modelling verified the measurement model and confirmed the theoretical
model’s validity and reliability. The descriptive statistics summarised the essential character-
istics of the study sample. The final tool remained with fourteen questions after removing
questions with low factor loadings < 0·5 and higher uniqueness above 0·60. The model achieved
construct validity through convergent and discriminant validity and construct reliability
through the composite reliability exceeding 0·60 and a Cronbach’s α value of 0·83 and above.
The fourteen-question food literacy tool has been reviewed and evaluated by experts in food,
nutrition and public health; therefore, it is a valid measure of food literacy among adults in
Tanzania. It is suitable for designing nutrition education programmes and ensures accurate and
reliable measurements for effective interventions and policy actions.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
dults, Food, Food literacy, Nutrition information, Tanzania, Validity
Citation
doi: 10.1017/S0007114525105138