Validity and reliability of the sports nutrition knowledge questionnaire for the turkish athletes

Objective: The aim of this research is to determine validity and reliability of Sports Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire (SNKQ) for the Turkish athletes. Materials and Methods: A total of 210 participants (n = 125 elite athletes and n = 85 Nutrition and Dietetics Department senior students) aged 19-30 years were enrolled in the research. SNKQ was evaluated utilizing the psychometric criteria to determine the reliability of items, test-retest reliability and known groups validity, by significance test (Independent Samples t-Test) of the difference between the two groups. After two weeks, SNKQ was applied again to some participants (n = 42) with the purpose of assuring test-retest reliability. Results: The Sports Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire was detected as valid and reliable according to the high internal consistency value (Kuder Richardson-20 (KR-20) = 0.927) and high test-retest reliability intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC = 0.974). The difference between SNKQ total scores of athletes (36.0 ± 8.1) and Nutrition and Dietetics Department students (59.1 ± 5.98) was statistically significant; thus, the known groups validity was obtained (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The Sports Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire is valid and reliable. It can be easily used to determine the nutrition knowledge level of the Turkish athletes.