Introduction:

The objective was to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of Hunger and Satiety Cues Children’s Perception Scale (EPSHSL, by its Spanish acronym).

Material and Methods:

The sample consisted of 354 parents dyads, (mother / father) - infants, who attended the Healthy Child Control in primary care units in northeastern Mexico. The evaluation the psychometric properties included content validity through experts, internal consistency was estimated using Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient, dimensional structure by exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis.

Results:

The EPSHSL was designed to be self-administered, assessing how parents perceive the signs of hunger and satiety emitted by the child during feeding. The internal consistency was adequate (α=0.95), unifactorial with an explained variance of 56.4%. The confirmatory factor analysis identified that the model was adequate, the eight-adjustment index were good. Mothers perceive the child’s feeding signals better than fathers.

Conclusions:

The EPSHSL proved to be reliable with adequate psychometric properties; it can be used by pediatricians and nurses in primary care to prevent risk of overweight in children under 6 months of age.

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