Study of the Validity of Using the MEQ to Measure Mindful Eating in Pregnant Women

The Specific Aim of this supplemental project is to evaluate the Mindful Eating Questionnaire (MEQ) to determine if it is a valid instrument for pregnant women. During this project, the MEQ will be qualitatively evaluated in a sample of pregnant women who are similar in age, ethnicity, education, and marital status to the women targeted for recruitment in the parent study. The qualitative evaluation will include a focus group with 10 participants followed by 30 individual cognitive interviews. Comments from the interviews will be summarized and analyzed systematically for each of the 28 questions of the MEQ and the interviewer will use findings from initial interviews to inform subsequent interviews. Content validity will be evaluated based on responses from the focus group and cognitive interviews, and MEQ items will be evaluated for comprehension, retrieval, judgment, and response. Strengths, weaknesses, relevance, comprehensiveness, and interpretations will be reported for each of the MEQ questions. We will also have some of the more traditional validation parameters (the inclusion of other questionnaires) in the study to collect data on convergent and discriminant validity. The resulting publication will provide readers with a thorough report on the utility and appropriateness of using the MEQ to quantify mindful eating in pregnant women.