Development and testing of a labeled magnitude scale of perceived satiety

Abstract

Satiety ratings are often made using VAS or simple category scales. In order to establish a simple, more quantitative technique to index perceived hunger and/or fullness, research was undertaken to develop and test a labeled magnitude scale of satiety. Thirty-seven subjects rated the semantic meaning of 47 phrases describing different levels of hunger/fullness using magnitude estimation. Eleven phrases were then selected using criteria of response consistency, symmetry, bipolarity, and inclusion of the end-point anchors of 'greatest imaginable hunger (fullness)'. These phrases were placed along a vertical line scale at positions corresponding to their geometric mean magnitude estimates to create a labeled magnitude scale of satiety. This Satiety Labeled Intensity Magnitude (SLIM) scale was compared to VAS scales for sensitivity and reliability in two studies. In one image-based study, ANOVA with post-hoc tests showed the SLIM scale to have greater sensitivity and to have an average reliability coefficient of 0.90. In a second study using three different foods replicated on two consecutive weeks, reliability was found to be highest for the SLIM scale. It is concluded that the SLIM scale is a sensitive, reliable, and easy-to-use scale for measuring perceived satiety that has several advantages over other, more commonly used satiety scales.