Adaptation and Validation of the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey in Stores (NEMS-S) in Costa Rica

ABSTRACT

This study adapted and validated the NEMS-S in Costa Rica. Twenty-nine food stores were assessed, three times, by two raters. Inter-rater precision and intra-rater stability were quantified. Construct validity was determined with the known-groups method. Relative precision ranged from 0.54 to 0.77 and was 0.87 for total score. Relative stability ranged from 0.58 to 0.96 and was 0.94 for total score. For construct validity, the hypothesized relationship that supermarkets would have the highest scores was supported. The instrument has moderate to excellent precision and stability, has construct validity, and can be useful to develop policies that encourage healthy environments in food stores.

KEYWORDS:

• NEMS-S
• IMANEA
• nutrition environment
• food stores
• food environment

Acknowledgments

We thank the owners and administrators of the food stores that participated in our study. Also, a special thanks to Dr. Anne Chinnock and MSc. Johnny Cartín, who provided insights in the preliminary stages of this work; and to Dr. Xinia Fernández, who shared the list of food stores of La Unión in Cartago, that served as our sampling frame.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).