Reliability of a Market Basket Assessment Tool (MBAT) for Use in SNAP-Ed Healthy Retail Initiatives

Misyak, S. A., Hedrick, V. E., Pudney, E., Serrano, E. L., & Farris, A. R. (2018). Reliability of a Market Basket Assessment Tool (MBAT) for Use in SNAP-Ed Healthy Retail Initiatives. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 50(5), 511–515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2018.01.012

Objective: To evaluate the reliability of the Market Basket Assessment Tool (MBAT) for assessing the availability of fruits and vegetables, low-fat or nonfat dairy and eggs, lean meats, whole-grain products, and seeds, beans, and nuts in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program–authorized retail environments. Methods: Different trained raters used the MBAT simultaneously at 14 retail environments to measure interrater reliability. Raters returned to 12 retail environments (85.7%) 1 week later to measure test-retest reliability. Data were analyzed using paired-sample t tests and correlations. Results: No significant differences were found for interrater reliability or test-retest reliability for individual categories (mean differences, 0.0 to 0.3 ± 0.2 points) or total score (mean difference, 0.5 ± 0.4 points and (mean differences, 0.0 to 0.3 ± 0.3 points) or total score (mean difference, 0.8 ± 0.4 points), respectively. Conclusions and Implications: Future steps include validation of the MBAT. A low-burden tool can facilitate evaluation of efforts to promote healthful foods in retail environments. © 2018 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior