Using Personal Mobile Phones to Assess Dietary Intake in Free-Living Adolescents: Comparison of Face-to-Face Versus Telephone Training

Abstract

BackgroundTraditional paper-based methods to assess food intake can be cumbersome for adolescents; use of mobile phones to track and photograph what they eat may be a more convenient, reliable, and compelling way to collect data.ObjectiveOur aims were to determine (1) the feasibility of using personal mobile phones to send food records with digital images (FRDIs) among free-living adolescents and (2) whether the quality of food records differed between a high-level intervention group (ie, face-to-face training plus real-time support) and a low-level intervention group (ie, telephone training plus next-day follow-up).MethodsAdolescents (N=42, 11 males and 31 females) aged 12-18 years who had a mobile phone with camera enrolled in the study via consecutive sampling. The first group (n=21) received face-to-face training while the second group (n=21) was trained via telephone. Participants received a fiducial marker (FM) and completed a 1-day FRDI using their mobile phones. At every eating occasion, participants were to (1) take clear images of their meals/food with a correctly placed fiducial marker before eating, (2) send the image immediately to a designated email address, (3) right after completing a meal, send a text message listing the time and name of the meal, foods eaten, and amounts eaten, and (4) before sleep, send an “end” text message to indicate completion of food recording. Those who received face-to-face training received real-time support during reporting; those trained by telephone received next-day follow-up. Descriptive statistics and comparison tests were used to determine performance of the groups.ResultsAll participants (N=42) who underwent training completed their 1-day FRDI. A significantly greater proportion of the low-level intervention group compared to the high-level intervention group placed their FM correctly in the image (95% vs 43%, P<.001), had complete information for each meal in their food record (95% vs 71%, P=.04), and had a higher overall score in meeting the criteria for food recording (4.3 vs 3.4 out of 5 points). Both groups had energy intake values that moderately correlated with their estimated energy requirements: low-intervention r=.55; high-intervention r=.51.ConclusionsUsing personal mobile phones to report dietary intake via texting and digital images is feasible among free-living adolescents. Real-time support or high-level intervention does not guarantee better food recording quality among adolescents.

Comparing Diet and Exercise Monitoring Using Smartphone App and Paper Diary: A Two-Phase Intervention Study

“…Previous research into smartphone apps, personal digital assistants (PDAs), or short messaging service (SMS) interventions have attempted to assess participant experience, usually through questionnaires, and report on domains such as user satisfaction, patterns of usage, engagement, reasons for like or dislike, helpfulness, and influence on self-efficacy [ 33 , 35 , 44 - 50 ]. Studies in adolescent groups have examined the barriers and facilitators of using smartphone apps to record diet [ 42 ], using mobile technology (photos, emails, and texts) to record diet [ 41 ], and using diet recording apps for weight control [ 40 ]. These studies have also explored the effect of using different training methods (face-to-face vs telephone) [ 41 ] and the use of technology alone versus technology and counseling [ 40 ].…”

Evaluation of the relative validity of a Web-based food frequency questionnaire used to assess Soy Isoflavones and nutrient intake in adolescents

“…However, it was already demonstrated that FFQ isoflavones estimates are significantly correlated with urinary isoflavonoids in a cohort of adults that includes parents of some of these adolescents [30]. The use of digital photographs in food records made this method less burdensome to respondents; however, managing the texts/digital photographs and quality control of the digital photograph-assisted FR on the part of the research team was still time-consuming [28]. Likewise, although human intervention in ascertaining the accuracy of food records submitted by participants is a strength, it is still subject to several errors, i.e., judgment, inter-evaluators, and coding.…”

“…As the criterion measure for this study, we determined the feasibility of using personal mobile phones for photographing foods to be consumed and recording intake as part of the food recording process among our young study participants. This method is described in a forthcoming article [28]. Instead of consecutive days of recording, the protocol was designed to reduce the burden associated with continuous food recording which may result in deviation from usual intake [27] or boredom, and to make the procedure more attainable among adolescents.…”

Effect of Caffeine on Attention and Alertness Measured in a Home-Setting, Using Web-Based Cognition Tests

“…At-home data collection could provide a better picture of real-life situations. Web-based data collection was reviewed by Swan [ 3 ] as an important emerging complement to clinical trials. Addition of a more standardized, organized design is recommended for more reliable data than by various crowdsourced data collections.…”