Structural validity of the mealtime behaviour questionnaire for children with autism spectrum disorder in Japan.
Kazuyo Nakaoka, Shinichi Takabatake, Kiyomi Tateyama and 5 others
PMID 32425354WHAT IT FOUND
A new 42-item questionnaire accurately groups mealtime problems in autistic children into five distinct areas: selective eating, manners, concentration, oral motor skills, and overeating.
This structure helps therapists pinpoint specific causes of feeding difficulties rather than treating them as one single issue.
Key findings
01The ASD-MBQ questionnaire fits a five-factor structure covering selective eating, clumsiness/manners, interest in/concentration on eating, oral-motor function, and overeating.
02Oral-motor function and overeating were strongly correlated, as were clumsiness/manners with interest/concentration.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Participation was voluntary, so the sample may not represent all children with ASD. The study did not validate the questionnaire against the US-based BAMBI tool because a Japanese version of BAMBI was not available. Inter-rater reliability was not examined. The impact of intellectual disability versus autism itself on mealtime behaviours was not fully separated.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was funded by JSPS KAKENHI grants.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this questionnaire is ready for immediate clinical use in non-Japanese settings without local validation. While the structure is sound in this Japanese sample, cultural differences in mealtime norms and utensil use (e.g., chopsticks) may affect how items are interpreted elsewhere.