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Cancer Control Research

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (investigator's abstract): Fruit, 100 percent juice and vegetable (FJV) consumption play a critical role in cancer prevention. Most Americans, including children, are not consuming the prescribed 5 to 9 servings of FJV each day. Home FJV availability has been shown to be a promising correlate of children's FJV consumption. The correlations, however, have been modest, as have been the reliability and validity coefficients. Research is needed that attempts to improve the measurement characteristics and that theoretically analyses the influences on home FJV availability. While home FJV availability is a part of the child's physical environment, it is in part the result of the actions of actors in the child's social environment, and is likely responsive to the child's actions, which completes the reciprocal relationship. Three studies are proposed. A food store intercept survey in stores balanced on SES and ethnic group of neighborhood will be conducted with 640 customers to identify usual food purchasing patterns. Focus groups will be conducted with 120 parents to identify influences on the home food pantry management. A multiple 'interview and one home visit study will be conducted to address procedures to enhance validity and reliability of assessment. An objective measure, an observational home inventory, will be conducted to assess validity of report. The values from one-day observations will be adjusted for factors that may influence discrepancies with self reports of FJ-V availability over the previous seven days. Use of grocery store purchase receipts will be used to assess their validity, reliability and convenience for families and investigators, especially in comparison to other measures. These validity and reliability issues will be explored within three important contexts: the SES of the family (since SES influences so many facets of the family food experience); the usual home food purchasing pattern (since deviations from grocery store sales receipts will vary by time since purchasing); and the age of the child providing a report of home FJV availability in addition to the parent (since cognitive maturity can influence the awareness and the ability of the child to provide accurate reports). The extent to which this research elucidates relationships of influences on home FJV availability, new targets should be identified to enhance the effectiveness of future interventions. The extent to which this research enhances the validity and reliability of measurement, future research on correlates will be more successful.