Psychometric Properties of the Hungarian Version of the Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale 

Abstract Background: The Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale (IIFAS) is a widely used tool to assess attitudes toward infant feeding methods. Attitudes toward breastfeeding are one of the main influencing factors of feeding choice and breastfeeding duration. Adaptation of IIFAS to Hungarian provides an opportunity for cross-cultural comparisons and helps targeting breastfeeding support interventions.Methods: The original IIFAS was translated into Hungarian and back-translated to English. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 553 mothers whose latest child’s age was between 6 and 36 months. In addition to the Hungarian IIFAS, infant feeding status and socioeconomic properties were self-reported in the online survey. Psychometric properties, validity and internal consistency were determined and compared with international results.Results: The 17 item IIFAS-H showed good psychometric properties with that of Cronbach alpha=0.733. Further analyses proved that two shortened versions of the IIFAS-17 consisting of 11 and 9 items also showed good properties (Cronbach’s alpha=0.789, 0.787). After comparing our results to the international short versions of IIFAS, we found that they share 8 identical items. These common 8 items have similar good properties with the Cronbach’s alpha=0.763.Conclusions: The benefits of possible use of international comparisons of the 8-item version outweigh its slightly lower reliability compared to the 9 or 11-item versions. Based on our analyses, we suggest the use of the 8-item-long, shortened version (IIFAS-H8) of the scale.