Abstract
【Objectives】 The Hospital Food Experience Questionnaire （HFEQ） is a questionnaire designed to assess various sensory traits and preferences specific to hospital food, factors contributing to the food experiences, and perceptions of food quality. The purpose of this study was to translate the original version of the HFEQ into Japanese and to verify its internal validity and relationship to dietary intake.
【Subjects and Methods】 The HFEQ was forward- and back-translated, and then the consistency between the original and the back-translated version was examined, and the Japanese version of the HFEQ was developed. Hospital inpatients answered Japanese version HFEQ and the internal validity of their responses was assessed by Cronbach's α coefficient.
The association between the answers to each question and hospital food intake were assessed by logistic regression analysis.
【Results】 In a survey of 72 patients, internal validity was demonstrated for importance of food traits （alpha coefficient =0.874），importance of food-related traits （alpha coefficient = 0.851），and rating of foods （alpha coefficient = 0.948），respectively. Ratings for importance of temperature of meals served [（odds ratio: OR）= 1.69, p = 0.01]，the total score for importance of food-related traits （OR=1.10, p=0.038），the evaluation of the smell of the meals served （OR=1.92, p=0.048），the evaluation of the temperature of the meals served （OR=2.04, p=0.017），and the total score of the Japanese version of the HFEQ（OR=1.04, p=0.038）were significantly associated with total intake of hospital food.
