Dear Bonnie,

Here is a paper with some questionnaires on the issue:

Clinical Nutrition (2003) 22(4): 415–421r

ESPENGuidelines for Nutrition Screening 2002

J. KONDRUP,  S. P. ALLISON, M. ELIA,  B.VELLAS, M. PLAUTH

Thank you Beatrice. I have seen many like this, on malnutrition and physical health. They are probably especially useful for the frail elderly. What I'm really looking for is a tool that would help a family doctor distinguish between 2 general categories: people who are heating lots of fruits and vegetables and unprocessed Mediterranean-type food, versus those who are eating packaged and processed food and fast foods from restaurants..........Bonnie

You can construct your own short scale based on those already at hand. Or you just give them a papaer with five questions:

How often do you eat  fruits: daily, once a week, once  two weeks, once a month

How often do you eat  vegetables: daily, once a week, once  two weeks, once a month

How often do you eat  pizza: daily, once a week, once  two weeks, once a month

How often do you eat  processed food: daily, once a week, once  two weeks, once a month

How often do you drink soft drinks: daily, once a week, once  two weeks, once a month

Thank you, Beatrice -- that is the type of thing I was thinking of. But I was hoping someone had already developed one like that and --- most importantly --- validated it against something like a food record. But I haven't found one that has been validated, so I may use something like what you are describing........I appreciate your ideas!

Starting The Conversation - is a brief validated questionnaire that I have been using in primary care that quantifies & guides on how patients can improve their diet - see- Paxton AE, Strycker LA, Toobert DJ, Ammerman AS, Glasgow RE: Starting the conversation performance of a brief dietary assessment and intervention tool for health professionals. Am J Prev Med 2011, 40(1):67-71.  I also get patients to play with the questions in Project Big Life (see http://www.projectbiglife.ca/life/index.php?le=1&hosp=0 ) which has motivated them to improve their diet.

Donna, these are terrific! Better than what I have been able to get so far from AHS contacts. I assume you educate people about serving size to be able to use the STC tool. Actually, the Big Life tool also.....

Thank you!

Questions are the most commonly used interventions and many doctors are unaware of how many they ask and the way in which they ask them or of their effect upon the patient.

Why don't you try Kushner's "diet personality test"?  I've been using it with 3 different languages and I found it to be a great tool for skilful questioning especially when you have to see many patients in the same day!

You may find attached the original version below!

Hope this helps.

IG

Thank you for the diet test by Kushner. It looks very interesting --- though lengthy. Did you get this from his book or a publication? Do you know if it is copyright-protected or not? Has it been used in research or not?

Bonnie

Thank you for the diet test by Kushner. It looks very interesting --- though lengthy. Did you get this from his book or a publication? Do you know if it is copyright-protected or not? Has it been used in research or not?

Bonnie

Thank you for the diet test by Kushner. It looks very interesting --- though lengthy. Did you get this from his book or a publication? Do you know if it is copyright-protected or not? Has it been used in research or not?

Bonnie

That was actually a patient handout from the clinic Dr Kushner used to work for!

I don't think copyright is an issue in this case as long as you cite the source.

IG

Thanks --- it's quite long, but I may pass it along to some people.