Translation and Cross-cultural Adaptation of Brief Autism Mealtime Behavior Inventory in the Kannada Language

Introduction: Children with autism spectrum disorder often search for predictability while eating. Yet, mealtimes are often a challenging task for parents. The mealtime behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorders make parents or caregivers burdensome as eating is vital and every parent expects their child to have nutritious and healthy growth. Consequently, this altered mealtime may risk the social skills and well-being of the child and their family’s stability. Brief Autism Mealtime Behavior Inventory (BAMBI) is a promising tool for assessing feeding abilities in autistic children. However, no assessment tool was developed in the Kannada language to assess feeding abilities in autistic children. Thus, the current study was considered. Methods: The BAMBI was translated and adapted to Kannada using a standard procedure. The translated tool was given to the parents of the participants of the study. A total of 120 children (60 children with autism and 60 typically developing children) between the ages of 4 and 10 years served as the study participants. The obtained data were tabulated and subjected to suitable statistical analysis. Results: The findings of the present study revealed that there is a significant difference between the groups across the statements of the BAMBI in Kannada (BAMBI-K) except Q10 and Q15. The items of the test tool demonstrated excellent internal consistency (0.83–0.88) and strong inter-rater reliability (0.88–0.98). Conclusion: BAMBI-K is a reliable and valid tool for identifying mealtime disturbances in Kannada-speaking children with autism spectrum disorders.