title: Culturally-Based Communication about Health, Eating, and Food: Development and validation of the CHEF scale.
abstract: Ethnic minority populations in the United States are disproportionately affected by obesity. To address this disparity, research has begun to investigate the role of culture, ethnicity, and experiences with racism on food choices and health interventions. The aim of the current study was to develop and evaluate a new scale measuring the extent to which individuals' culture, as they perceive it, influences perceptions of food-related health messages. A diverse sample of 422 college students responded to the item pool, as well as surveys on race-related stress, self-efficacy in making healthy food choices, ethnic identity, and social support for health-related behaviors. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses produced a five-factor model: Connection (the extent to which food connected individuals with their culture), Authority (beliefs that health care providers were familiar with individuals' cultural foods), Unhealthy Food Perceptions (beliefs that individuals' cultural foods were perceived as unhealthy), Healthy Food Perceptions (beliefs that others perceive individuals' cultural foods to be healthy), and Social Value (the extent to which social relationships are improved by shared cultural food traditions). Authority and Healthy Food Perceptions were related to individuals' confidence in their ability to make healthy food choices. Authority was inversely correlated with negative coping with racism-related events. Ethnic identity was significantly correlated with all but Unhealthy Food Perceptions. Race/ethnicity differences were identified for Healthy Food Perceptions, Unhealthy Food Perceptions, Social Value, Connection, but not Authority. Applications and suggestions for further research using the Culturally-based Communication about Health, Eating, and Food (CHEF) Scale are proposed.
authors.affiliation: 1525 E 53rd St. Suite 503, Chicago, IL 60615, USA; Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Psychology, 806 W. Franklin St., Richmond, VA 23284-2018, USA. Electronic address: hubbardrr@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Rebecca R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Hubbard
authors.affiliation: Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Psychology, 806 W. Franklin St., Richmond, VA 23284-2018, USA.
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Palmberg
authors.affiliation: Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Psychology, 806 W. Franklin St., Richmond, VA 23284-2018, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, 301 Cedar St, New Haven, CT 06520-8098, USA.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lydecker
authors.affiliation: Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Psychology, 806 W. Franklin St., Richmond, VA 23284-2018, USA.
authors.forename: Brooke
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Psychology, 806 W. Franklin St., Richmond, VA 23284-2018, USA; Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), DoD, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA; Section on Growth and Obesity, Program in Developmental Endocrinology and Genetics, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), DHHS, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA.
authors.forename: Nichole R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Family Studies, College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, University of South Florida, 13301 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., MHC 2508, Tampa, FL 33612, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Trapp
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University, PO Box 980140, Richmond, VA 23298-0140, USA.
authors.forename: Melanie K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Bean
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003469:Culture; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D015438:Health Behavior; D058015:Health Communication; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D012424:Rural Population; D012944:Social Support; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Culture; Ethnic identity; Food choices; Obesity; Race; Racism