Parental feeding practices in Turkish children with autism spectrum disorder: Factorial validation of the Feeding Strategies Questionnaire

Abstract

The Feeding Strategies Questionnaire (FSQ) has not previously been validated either in a Turkish sample or on children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In the present study, the factorial validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the FSQ were examined in order to use the assessment of the parental feeding practices on children with ASD. Further, the parental feeding strategies and their possible associations with various child demographic variables (i.e., children's age groups, gender, severity, comorbidity, and body mass index [BMI]) were investigated. The present study suggests that the FSQ shows a good internal consistency, adequate split-half reliability, and acceptable factorial validity, which confirms that the FSQ can be used to assess the feeding strategies of parents and their children with ASD in a Turkish sample. The FSQ and factors scores were calculated as a moderate level. There were no significant differences in regard to FSQ by age group, gender, severity of disability, or comorbidity. BMI scores indicate the risk of overweight for a sample of Turkish children with ASD. There was a just significant and negative correlation between the coercive interactions factor of FSQ and BMI average score, which may be interpreted that when BMI score reduces, parents tend to be in coercive feeding style.