Initial development of the Sugar‐Sweetened Fruit Drink Questionnaire for examining beliefs, knowledge, and behaviors in an intervention to reduce sugar‐sweetened fruit drink intake in Alaska Native children

• Published in: Journal of Public Health Dentistry
• Main Authors: Edwards, Todd C., Randall, Cameron L., Hill, Courtney M., Hopkins, Scarlett, Orr, Eliza, Cruz, Stephanie, Lee, Jeffrey, Mancl, Lloyd, Chi, Donald L.
• Other Authors: National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2024
• Subjects: Yup'ik; Alaska
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jphd.12639; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jphd.12639

Abstract Objective Alaska Native children may be at increased risk for dental caries because of added sugar intake from sugar‐sweetened fruit drinks. This study describes development of a questionnaire to (a) assess Alaska Native caregivers' beliefs, knowledge, and behaviors regarding sugar‐sweetened fruit drinks, and (b) describe behavior changes within a community‐based intervention. Methods Questionnaire development was conducted in three phases with Yup'ik Alaska Native caregivers in Southwest Alaska: (1) initial selection and adaptation of questionnaire items; (2) cognitive testing; and (3) data collection. The Sugar‐Sweetened Fruit Drink Questionnaire (SFDQ) contains 31 culturally‐tailored items across six areas: beliefs/values, environment/skills, knowledge, motivation, self‐efficacy, and behaviors. Results Eighty‐one percent of caregivers gave their children sugar‐sweetened fruit drinks. Motivations included: what they grew up with (52%), few other options (46%), makes child happy (46%), healthier than soda (45%), and others in community drink them (42%). On average, 93% of caregivers believed drinking a lot of sugar‐sweetened fruit drinks leads to cavities in children and caregivers agreed (mean 4.1 on 5‐point scale, 5 = strongly agree) it is important to limit sugar‐sweetened fruit drinks. Among a sub‐sample of respondents ( n = 20), we found low to moderate temporal stability in some SFDQ items over a 10–14 day period, indicating respondent ambivalence and/or uncertainty. Conclusions Using community‐based participatory research methods, we developed a culturally tailored exploratory questionnaire that will be used to describe changes in caregiver knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, self‐efficacy, and behavior within a planned intervention to reduce sugar‐sweetened fruit drink intake in Alaska Native children.