CGIAR initiative TAFSSA (Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia), published a brief, titled "Development of a Methods Repository for Food Choice Behaviors and Drivers at the Household and Individual Levels," identifying important constructs for assessing drivers of food choice and informing about the progress in developing a methods repository of instruments in this area.
Undernutrition in South Asia has improved, but a complex set of intersecting social, environmental, climate, and health challenges makes continued progress difficult. Understanding the linkages among these challenges requires a clear and comprehensive understanding of what drives food choices. Providing clarity on which constructs to measure, and existing instruments can help advance food choice research by reducing the need for time-consuming recreation of data collection protocols.
Objectives of this brief
- List constructs that can be assessed to understand drivers of household and individual food choice behaviors.
- Identify instruments and measures to assess each food choice construct and organize them into a searchable repository.
- Illustrate the use of the Food Choice Repository.
The authors reviewed and synthesized various models of food choice, categorizing them into six groups: food choice behaviors, intrapersonal drivers, sociocultural drivers, personal food environments, material assets and resources, and person-state drivers. Instruments and measures for each construct are then compiled into the Food Choice Repository.
In conclusion, this initiative shows promise in addressing South Asia's nutrition challenges by providing a comprehensive understanding of food choice behaviors and their drivers. Expanding this Food Choice Repository to align with complementary efforts to assess the external food environment could be an important step in advancing actions that improve diets in low- and middle-income countries.
