Formative research on development of semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire for selected multi ethnic foods in Jakarta

Diet is an important modifiable risk factor for many diseases. However, specific tools for assessing food in a routine consumption among multi-ethnic urban population is limited. Therefore, we conducted a formative research to develop ethnic-specific semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires (ES-SFFQs) for several ethnicities living in Jakarta. We performed an online search, formative research, and questionnaires pretesting. The formative research used qualitative method including four focus group discussions (FGDs), eight in-depth interviews (IDIs) for 2 people in each ethnicity, and market surveys. Before conducting FGDs and IDIs, a literature review was done to construct initial ethnic food list. Respondents were apparently healthy adults aged 19-55 years from Minangkabau, Sundanese, Chinese, and Betawi ethnicities whose parents originated from the same ethnicity. Pretesting was performed to 25 subjects (Minangkabau, n=6, Sundanese, n=6, Chinese, n=7, Betawi, n=6) to confirm the final ES-FFQs. Four ES-SFFQs were developed common and ethnic foods. Each food was classified into 10 food groups in the final ES-SFFQs. A total of 248 common foods, 35 Minangkabau foods, 36 Sundanese foods, 31 Chinese foods, and 38 Betawi foods are included in the four final ES-SFFQs that were derived from the data of commonly consumed food based on total contribution of energy intake per day. Four ES-SFFQs have been developed and pretested comprising 248 common foods, 35 Minangkabau, 36 Sundanese, 31 Chinese, and 38 Betawi foods. This developed ES-SFFQs can facilitate the standardization and comparable assessment of diets among ethnic groups in Jakarta and other areas.