Can existing mobile apps support healthier food purchasing behaviour? Content analysis of nutrition content, behaviour change theory and user quality integration

Flaherty, Sarah Jane; McCarthy, Mary; Collins, Alan; McAuliffe, Fionnuala M.

doi:10.1017/s1368980017002889

Cited by 69 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…First, all efforts need to be part of an integrated approach in order to be optimally effective (Stern, 2000). Berger (2019) found that an approach that combines gamification elements with norm-based feedback (especially feedback based on injunctive norms) effectively steers consumers toward more sustainable food choices. Yokessa and Marette (2019) conclude that it is usually best to combine eco-labeling with other regulatory tools such as standards banning polluting products and including tax mechanisms.…”

Section: Further Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmentally Sustainable Food Consumption: A Review and Research Agenda From a Goal-Directed Perspective

et al. 2020

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The challenge of convincing people to change their eating habits toward more environmentally sustainable food consumption (ESFC) patterns is becoming increasingly pressing. Food preferences, choices and eating habits are notoriously hard to change as they are a central aspect of people's lifestyles and their socio-cultural environment. Many people already hold positive attitudes toward sustainable food, but the notable gap between favorable attitudes and actual purchase and consumption of more sustainable food products remains to be bridged. The current work aims to (1) present a comprehensive theoretical framework for future research on ESFC, and (2) highlight behavioral solutions for environmental challenges in the food domain from an interdisciplinary perspective. First, starting from the premise that food consumption is deliberately or unintentionally directed at attaining goals, a goal-directed framework for understanding and influencing ESFC is built. To engage in goal-directed behavior, people typically go through a series of sequential steps. The proposed theoretical framework makes explicit the sequential steps or hurdles that need to be taken for consumers to engage in ESFC. Consumers need to positively value the environment, discern a discrepancy between the desired versus the actual state of the environment, opt for action to reduce the experienced discrepancy, intend to engage in behavior that is expected to bring them closer to the desired end state, and act in accordance with their intention. Second, a critical review of the literature on mechanisms that underlie and explain ESFC (or the lack thereof) in high-income countries is presented and integrated into the goal-directed framework. This contribution thus combines a topdown conceptualization with a bottom-up literature review; it identifies and discusses factors that might hold people back from ESFC and interventions that might promote ESFC; and it reveals knowledge gaps as well as insights on how to encourage

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Section: Further Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmentally Sustainable Food Consumption: A Review and Research Agenda From a Goal-Directed Perspective

et al. 2020

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“…However, the small number of studies identified, and wide range of outcomes evaluated limited conclusions which could be drawn. User engagement, which is an important determinant of intervention effectiveness [26,66], was seen to be a challenge in evaluated studies. Similarly, many websites and apps identified in objective three scored poorly for engagement.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic evaluation of digital nutrition promotion websites and apps for supporting parents to influence children’s nutrition

Zarnowiecki

Mauch

Middleton

et al. 2020

Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act

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Background: Globally children's diet quality is poor. Parents are primary gatekeepers to children's food intake; however, reaching and engaging parents in nutrition promotion can be challenging. With growth in internet and smartphone use, digital platforms provide potential to disseminate information rapidly to many people. The objectives of this review were to conduct a comprehensive and systematic evaluation of nutrition promotion via websites and apps supporting parents to influence children's nutrition, from three different perspectives: 1) current evidence base, 2) end user (parent) experience and 3) current commercial offerings. Methods: Three systematic reviews were undertaken of (1) studies evaluating the effectiveness for digital platforms for improving nutrition in children and parents, (2) studies conducting user-testing of digital tools with parents, (3) websites and apps providing lunch-provision information to parents. Searches were conducted in five databases for reviews one and two, and systematic search of Google and App Store for review three. Randomised controlled trials, cohort and cross-sectional and qualitative studies (study two only) were included if published in English, from 2013, with the intervention targeted at parents and at least 50% of intervention content focused on nutrition. Search results were double screened, with data extracted into standardised spreadsheets and quality appraisal of included search results. Results: Studies evaluating digital nutrition interventions targeting parents (n = 11) demonstrated effectiveness for improving nutrition outcomes, self-efficacy and knowledge. Six of the included randomised controlled trials reported digital interventions to be equal to, or better than comparison groups. User-testing studies (n = 9) identified that digital platforms should include both informative content and interactive features. Parents wanted evidence-based information from credible sources, practical tools, engaging content and connection with other users and health professionals. Websites targeting lunch provision (n = 15) were developed primarily by credible sources and included information-based content consistent with dietary guidelines and limited interactive features. Lunchbox apps (n = 6), developed mostly by commercial organisations, were more interactive but provided less credible information.(Continued on next page)

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“…The medical and public health literature includes studies on nutrition, diabetes management, calorie-counting, or weight-loss apps. Several of these studies have focused on features of food-tracking apps' content such as their accuracy, usability, and accountability [25]; whether they conform to evidence-informed practices [26] or incorporate expert medical or nutritional knowledge [27,28]; or psychological models of behaviour [29]. Another group of studies has directed attention to how food-tracking apps are used, focusing on elements such as whether they contribute to eating disorders [30,31], and their efficacy in weight-loss efforts [32] and diabetes management [33].…”

Section: Previous Research On Food-tracking Appsmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘I Just Want It to Be Done, Done, Done!’ Food Tracking Apps, Affects, and Agential Capacities

Lupton

2018

MTI

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Food-tracking apps constitute a major category of the thousands of food-related apps now available. They are promoted as helping users monitor and measure their food consumption to improve their health or to lose weight. In this article, I present six vignettes drawn from interviews with Australian women about their use and non-use of food-tracking apps. The vignettes provide detailed insights into the experiences of these women and their broader sociocultural and biographical contexts. The analysis is based on feminist materialism theoretical perspectives, seeking to identify the relational connections, affective forces, and agential capacities generated in and through the human-app assemblage. The vignettes reveal that affective forces related to the desire to control and manage the body and conform to norms and ideals about good health and body weight inspire people to try food-tracking apps. However, the agential capacities promised by app developers may not be generated even when people have committed hope and effort in using the app. Frustration, disappointment, the fear of becoming too controlled, and annoyance or guilt evoked by the demands of the app can be barriers to continued and successful use. Sociocultural and biographical contexts and relational connections are also central to the capacities of human-app assemblages. Women's ambivalences about using apps as part of efforts to control their body weight are sited within their struggles to conform to accepted ideals of physical appearance but also their awareness that these struggles may be too limiting of their agency. This analysis, therefore, draws attention to what a body can and cannot do as it comes together with food tracking apps.

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Can existing mobile apps support healthier food purchasing behaviour? Content analysis of nutrition content, behaviour change theory and user quality integration

Cited by 69 publications

References 71 publications

Environmentally Sustainable Food Consumption: A Review and Research Agenda From a Goal-Directed Perspective

Environmentally Sustainable Food Consumption: A Review and Research Agenda From a Goal-Directed Perspective

A systematic evaluation of digital nutrition promotion websites and apps for supporting parents to influence children’s nutrition

‘I Just Want It to Be Done, Done, Done!’ Food Tracking Apps, Affects, and Agential Capacities

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