(P24-055-23) Assessing College Students’ Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Protein Using a Mixed-Methods Approach: The Dietary Protein Assessment Questionnaire (DPAQ)

Objectives: The Dietary Protein Assessment Questionnaire (DPAQ) is a three faceted questionnaire to assess protein knowledge, attitudes, and consumption behavior in college students. The purpose of this study was to provide evidence of the DPAQ’s construct validity.

Methods: Content validity and face validity were assessed prior to the current version of the DPAQ. Students currently enrolled at a college/university were recruited to complete the DPAQ. Construct validity of the knowledge questions was assessed by performing known-group comparisons using an independent t-test. The factor structure of the attitude questions was evaluated by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with principal axis factoring and a promax rotation. Construct validity of the attitude questions was evaluated by calculating participants’ attitude scores.

Results: One thousand five hundred forty-four participants (54.3% female) provided responses. The initial EFA hypothesized a three factor structure which explained 47.6% of the variance. Factor 1 consisted of seven items related to healthfulness of animal protein sources. Factor 2 consisted of six items pertaining to environmental health of animal protein sources. Factor 3 consisted of nine items describing the adequacy of the protein Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for certain populations. The mean[sd] knowledge scores of nutrition students was significantly greater than non-nutrition students (16.7[4.5] vs. 14.2[4.2]; p < 0.001). Attitude scores were greater among nutrition students (65.6[16.3]) compared to non-nutrition students (62.9[13.6]), but the difference was not significant.

Conclusions: Attitudes towards dietary protein appear multidimensional. Nutrition students reported greater knowledge towards protein indicating evidence of construct validity for the knowledge questions. Further testing is needed to confirm the proposed factor structure and to analyze internal and temporal reliability of the DPAQ. 

Funding Sources: Texas Woman's University Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences