Respondents’ evaluation of the 24-h dietary recall method (EPIC-Soft) in the EFCOVAL Project

Abstract

Background: To improve participation rate, accuracy and respondents' compliance, it is important to know the respondents' viewpoint. Objective: To evaluate respondents' preferences and perception about the EPIC-Soft (the software developed to conduct 24-h dietary recalls (24-HDRs) in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Study) 24-HDR interviews and to compare these preferences and perception between population groups (for example, between genders). Design: Data were collected in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands and Norway in 2007. Two 24-HDRs (face-toface and telephone administered) were conducted using EPIC-Soft. An evaluation questionnaire on different study aspects was completed by the respondents. Setting: Data were collected in the European Food Consumption Validation Study. Subjects: A convenience sample of 600 apparently healthy men and women, 45-65 years old and including all educational levels, were recruited (120 subjects per country). Differences among population groups were compared by means of the w 2 -test. Results: A total of 585 respondents completed the evaluation questionnaire. In all, 88% experienced problems only to a low degree when answering face-to-face and telephone-administered 24-HDR using EPIC-Soft. A total of 15% would have preferred help of another person during the face-to-face interview in the study center (mainly men: Po0.001). Significantly, more subjects in the Netherlands and in Norway preferred two telephone (instead of face-to-face) interviews compared with the other countries (Po0.001). Conclusion: Most subjects only experienced problems to a low degree during the EPIC-Soft interviews. Differences in preferences and capabilities to answer the EPIC-Soft interviews were identified between population groups (for example, gender differences). Therefore, the methods and the design to be used in a survey should be adapted according to the study population, so as to optimize response rate and compliance.

Potential and requirements for a standardized pan-European food consumption survey using the EPIC-Soft software

“…It is therefore advised to pilot test EPIC-Soft versions with major new specifications before performing a survey. However, in general, respondents find a 24-HDR interview using EPIC-Soft agreeable (Huybrechts et al, 2011b).…”

The standardized computerized 24-h dietary recall method EPIC-Soft adapted for pan-European dietary monitoring

“…EPIC-Soft was also evaluated on its user-friendliness from a respondent's point of view, where B90% of the respondents felt capable to, a (fairly) high degree, to answer 24-HDRs using EPIC-Soft through both, face-to-face and telephone administrations (Huybrechts et al, 2011b).…”

Inventory of experiences from national/regional dietary monitoring surveys using EPIC-Soft

“…As shown in Table 6, all these methods have been pilot tested or validated, and have confirmed the feasibility and user friendliness of the EPIC-Soft 24-HDR method. In a recent publication, based on the EFCOVALrespondent evaluation questionnaire, it was shown that most of the respondents do not have a strong preference for the face-to-face or telephone administration method, although some differences in preference could be seen among the different countries (Huybrechts et al, 2011). Differences between the telephone and face-to-face interview conducted with the EPIC-Soft program were studied in the Norwegian subsample of the EPIC-study (Brustad et al, 2003).…”