Validation and reliability of the Turkish version of the food insecurity experience scale (FIES) among adults

Abstract Background Food insecurity is a global public health problem characterised by the inability of individuals and households to regularly access sufficient, safe and nutritious food. The objective of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity and reliability of the Turkish adap...

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Main Authors: Gül Eda Kılınç, Yeliz Vergi, Alev Keser
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-07-01
Series:Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s41043-025-00873-8
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author Gül Eda Kılınç
Yeliz Vergi
Alev Keser
author_facet Gül Eda Kılınç
Yeliz Vergi
Alev Keser
author_sort Gül Eda Kılınç
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background Food insecurity is a global public health problem characterised by the inability of individuals and households to regularly access sufficient, safe and nutritious food. The objective of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity and reliability of the Turkish adaptation of Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) in the adult population. Methods A total of 536 individuals (357 females, 179 males) with an average age of 30.1 ± 10.2 years were involved. Questionnaire consisted of two sections including socio-demographic characteristics and FIES. For the adaptation of the scale to Turkish, the translation-back translation method was employed, involving expert translators for both English-to-Turkish and Turkish-to-English translations. The validation process included confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess the model fit. Data were analyzed using fit indices, descriptive statistics, and CFA for model validation. Results The Cronbach’s alpha for the FIES was 0.85, indicating good reliability. In the fit index results, excellent fit was obtained for all indices ​​except the SRMR value, which showed a good fit. The outcomes of the excellence of fit indices were as follows: CMIN/df = 1.261, AFGI = 0.985, GFI = 0.991, IFI = 0.995, CFI = 0.995, RMSEA = 0.031, SRMR = 0.069. Conclusions These results show that Turkish version of FIES has structural validity and reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity and reliability in assessing food insecurity in Turkish adult population. The strong psychometric properties of the scale suggest that it can be used in research and policy development processes related to food insecurity. Future studies can further strengthen the findings by evaluating the applicability of the FIES across different socioeconomic groups. Clinical trial number Not applicable.
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spelling doaj-art-ab6c993e603042e4b1c60b64d2e1ade92025-08-20T03:42:57ZengBMCJournal of Health, Population and Nutrition2072-13152025-07-014411810.1186/s41043-025-00873-8Validation and reliability of the Turkish version of the food insecurity experience scale (FIES) among adultsGül Eda Kılınç0Yeliz Vergi1Alev Keser2Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Ondokuz Mayıs UniversityFaculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Mersin UniversityFaculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Ankara UniversityAbstract Background Food insecurity is a global public health problem characterised by the inability of individuals and households to regularly access sufficient, safe and nutritious food. The objective of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity and reliability of the Turkish adaptation of Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) in the adult population. Methods A total of 536 individuals (357 females, 179 males) with an average age of 30.1 ± 10.2 years were involved. Questionnaire consisted of two sections including socio-demographic characteristics and FIES. For the adaptation of the scale to Turkish, the translation-back translation method was employed, involving expert translators for both English-to-Turkish and Turkish-to-English translations. The validation process included confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess the model fit. Data were analyzed using fit indices, descriptive statistics, and CFA for model validation. Results The Cronbach’s alpha for the FIES was 0.85, indicating good reliability. In the fit index results, excellent fit was obtained for all indices ​​except the SRMR value, which showed a good fit. The outcomes of the excellence of fit indices were as follows: CMIN/df = 1.261, AFGI = 0.985, GFI = 0.991, IFI = 0.995, CFI = 0.995, RMSEA = 0.031, SRMR = 0.069. Conclusions These results show that Turkish version of FIES has structural validity and reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity and reliability in assessing food insecurity in Turkish adult population. The strong psychometric properties of the scale suggest that it can be used in research and policy development processes related to food insecurity. Future studies can further strengthen the findings by evaluating the applicability of the FIES across different socioeconomic groups. Clinical trial number Not applicable.https://doi.org/10.1186/s41043-025-00873-8Food insecurityFIESTurkish adaptionPsychometric evaluation
spellingShingle Gül Eda Kılınç
Yeliz Vergi
Alev Keser
Validation and reliability of the Turkish version of the food insecurity experience scale (FIES) among adults
Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition
Food insecurity
FIES
Turkish adaption
Psychometric evaluation
title Validation and reliability of the Turkish version of the food insecurity experience scale (FIES) among adults
title_full Validation and reliability of the Turkish version of the food insecurity experience scale (FIES) among adults
title_fullStr Validation and reliability of the Turkish version of the food insecurity experience scale (FIES) among adults
title_full_unstemmed Validation and reliability of the Turkish version of the food insecurity experience scale (FIES) among adults
title_short Validation and reliability of the Turkish version of the food insecurity experience scale (FIES) among adults
title_sort validation and reliability of the turkish version of the food insecurity experience scale fies among adults
topic Food insecurity
FIES
Turkish adaption
Psychometric evaluation
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s41043-025-00873-8
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AT alevkeser validationandreliabilityoftheturkishversionofthefoodinsecurityexperiencescalefiesamongadults