Evaluating brief measures of fruit and vegetable consumption frequency andvariety: Cognition, interpretation, and other measurement issues

To evaluate whether items from 3 brief measures of fruit and vegetable cons umption were understood and interpreted as intended, cognitive testing was conducted in a purposive sample of 31 white, African-American and Hispanic persons. The measurement instruments tested were the fruit and vegetable mo dule front the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (to measure frequ ency), and 1 fruit and 1 vegetable variety measurement instrument developed by the investigators. The cognitive testing interviews were analyzed quali tatively to identify interpretation difficulties and other measurement issu es. The testing identified a number of measurement issues, including issues related to time frame, wording, interpretation, grouping of items, and ser ving size, Recommendations based on the findings were incorporated into rev ised versions of each instrument, which were further tested in a small samp le. As revised and presented in this article, these instruments for assessi ng fruit and vegetable frequency and variety appear to be understood and in terpreted as intended across different racial and ethnic groups, and may be useful in situations requiring brief dietary assessment, although further testing is needed.