Development of a scale for assessing determinants of construction workers’ food choices

Abstract: Research on the factors influencing construction workers’ food choices and overall nutrition is limited, in South Africa and indeed Africa. The aim of the present paper is to develop and validate a questionnaire of factors influencing construction workers’ food choices. A quantitative, purposive approach was used in the study. Fourty-two items, divided into six constructs, were used to develop a field survey questionnaire after an extensive literature review. Principal components analysis (PCA) was conducted to examine the structures and validity of the constructs. Cronbach’s alpha test and mean inter-item correlations were used to examine internal consistency reliability. After repeated factor analysis, the questionnaire of food choice factors revealed seven different factors: food context, biological factors, nutritional knowledge, personal ideas and systems, economic factors, resources and cultural background. These factors explained 60.09% variance. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from 0.62 to 0.85, indicating good internal consistency reliability. The factors which influence construction workers’ food choices are important considerations when designing and implementing nutrition interventions in the South African construction industry. Future research can adopt the instrument when conducting psychometric assessments of construction workers’ food choices