Cultural adaptation and psychometric evaluation of the Norwegian version of the neonatal eating assessment tool.

OBJECTIVE

Preterm infants experience feeding difficulties that may persist beyond infancy and affect both infants and their families. The Neonatal Eating Assessment Tool (NeoEAT) is a parent-reported questionnaire designed to identify feeding difficulties in infants across breastfeeding, bottle-feeding, and mixed-feeding modes. This study aimed to translate and culturally adapt the NeoEAT into Norwegian, evaluate its psychometric properties and explore parent-reported feeding difficulties among Norwegian infants.

METHODS

The NeoEAT was translated and culturally adapted according to the ISPOR Principles of Good Practice for Translation and Cultural Adaptation. In a survey study, parents of preterm and term infants completed the Norwegian NeoEAT, which was used to assess internal consistency, test-retest reliability and known-group validity.

RESULTS

Fifty parents participated in the survey. Cognitive debriefings supported the face validity of the Norwegian NeoEAT. The questionnaire demonstrated strong internal consistency for the total scales (Cronbach's α = 0.85-0.90) and good test-retest reliability. However, several subscales showed low internal consistency and known-group validity was limited. Parent-reported feeding difficulties were similar in preterm and term infants, although some differences were observed in the breastfeeding version.

CONCLUSION

The Norwegian NeoEAT was successfully translated and culturally adapted. The findings support its face validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability. However, limitations related to sample size and construct validity indicate that the present study should be regarded as a preliminary psychometric evaluation rather than a full validation. Further studies with larger and more diverse samples are needed to establish reference values and confirm the instrument's psychometric properties.