ARS | Publication request: Comparison of a web-based versus traditional diet recall among children

Submitted to: Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: September 29, 2011
Publication Date: April 1, 2012
Citation: Baranowski, T., Islam, N., Baranowski, J., Martin, S., Beltran, A., Dadabhoy, H., Adame, S., Watson, K., Thompson, D., Cullen, K., Subar, A.F. 2012. Comparison of a web-based versus traditional diet recall among children. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 112(4):527-532.

Interpretive Summary: Generally speaking, dietitian-conducted dietary assessment is expensive. This study tested whether children could accurately use a new web-based 24-hour dietary recall designed for use by adults, called the ASA24. The test was done with children in a wide age range (8-13 years old) to see if there was an age below which too much error was obtained. Child responses on ASA24 were compared with those on a dietitian-conducted recall. Eight-year-olds had substantial error in their reports, while 10-year-olds and older were much lower in error, but not error free. Most children needed assistance to complete the ASA24. A simpler ASA24 would benefit children in accurately completing their dietary recalls.

Technical Abstract: Self-administered instruments offer a low-cost diet assessment method for use in adult and pediatric populations. This study tested whether 8- to 13-year-old children could complete an early version of the Automated Self Administered 24 (ASA24) hour dietary recall and how this compared to an interviewer-administered 24-hour dietary recall (24-HDR). One-hundred twenty 8- to 13-year-old children were recruited in Houston from June through August 2009, and randomly assigned to complete either the ASA24 or an interviewer-administered 24-HDR, followed by the other recall mode covering the same time interval. Multivariate analyses of variance, testing for differences by age, gender, and ethnic/racial group, were applied to percentages of food matches, intrusions, and omissions between reports on the ASA24 and the interviewer-administered 24-HDR. For the ASA24, qualitative findings were reported regarding ease of use. Overall matches between interviewer-administered and ASA24 self-administered 24-HDR was 47.8%. Matches were significantly lower among younger(8-9 years old), compared to older (10-13 years old) children. Omissions on ASA24 (18.9% overall) were most common among 9-year-olds and intermediate among 9-year-olds. Eight- and nine-year-olds had substantial difficulties and often required aid in completing ASA24. Findings from this study suggest that a simpler version of a web-based diet recall program would be easier for children to use.