JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

U.S. children eat too few fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and too many energy dense foods, dietary behaviors associated with increased risk for obesity and chronic diseases later in life. Maternal diet plays a key role in shaping children's diets, but many mothers have poor diet quality, especially those living in low-income households. WIC is a federal nutrition assistance program that provides mothers and children with nutrient-dense foods and those who participate have better diet quality. However, many mothers are not redeeming all their WIC-approved foods. There is a need to create effective interventions to improve diet quality, especially among low-income children and families. This manuscript describes the rationale and design for a pilot 12-week prospective cohort feasibility study that uses digital technologies to increase redemption of WIC-approved foods. The primary aim of the study is to explore the feasibility of the intervention and to determine the intervention's preliminary efficacy on improving maternal diet quality and increasing redemption of WIC-approved foods using a rigorous feasibility assessment framework. The results from this pilot study will explore whether this digital behavioral intervention, which will deliver nutrition guidance in accordance with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans using interactive self-monitoring and feedback, is feasible and acceptable. This will lay the foundation for a larger evaluation to determine efficacy for improving diet quality in those most at risk for obesity.