Barrett, Katherine J., authorHibbs-Shipp, Sarah K., authorHobbs, Savannah, authorBoles, Richard E., authorJohnson, Susan L., authorBellows, Laura L., authorMDPI, publisher2025-08-202025-08-202021-11-03Barrett, K.J.; Hibbs-Shipp, S.K.; Hobbs, S.; Boles, R.E.; Johnson, S.L.; Bellows, L.L. Validation of a Home Food Environment Instrument Assessing Household Food Patterning and Quality. Nutrients 2021, 13, 3930. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13113930https://hdl.handle.net/10217/241606The home food environment (HFE) is associated with dietary intake; yet measuring HFE quality often requires burdensome collection of detailed inventories. This project evaluated the capacity of the Home Inventory to Describe Eating and Activity, version 2 (Home-IDEA2) to capture HFE quality by measuring the presence or absence of household foods. Validity was tested using a modified application of the Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI). Comparative data were drawn from the National Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) Food-at-Home Public Use File. HEI scores were calculated for 4202 households in FoodAPS using Home-IDEA2 inventories and full reported inventories. Paired t-tests compared: (1) estimated vs. total edible grams (EEG; TEG); (2) limited vs. all reported foods; and (3) EEG + limited foods vs. TEG + all reported foods. Sensitivity and range of scores were compared. Mean HEI scores for Home-IDEA2 were higher (p < 0.003) than FoodAPS: (1) 51.6 ± 16.1 vs. 49.6 ± 18.1 (food amounts); (2) 53.5 ± 15.8 vs. 49.8 ± 15.4 (food items); (3) 55.5 ± 15.7 vs. 49.8 ± 15.4 (full instrument); differences were small. Scores demonstrated comparable sensitivity and range. The study found that the Home-IDEA2 can capture HFE quality adequately with low data collection burden.born digitalarticlesenghttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/home food environmenthome food inventoryhome food availabilityfood environment qualityFoodAPSTextThis article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13113930