JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Prevalences of childhood obesity and co-morbidities are rising alarmingly, and diet is known to be an important modifiable determinant. Globally, numerous dietary interventions in children are ongoing, but long-lasting effects are unsatisfactory. Stakeholders urge for more personalized approaches, which requires detailed dietary intake data of an individual. In case of primary school children, caregivers are key in providing such dietary information. However, as children in this age group are usually not under full supervision of one specific caregiver anymore, data is likely to be biased. Recent technological advancements provide opportunities for a role of the child itself, which would serve the overall quality of the obtained dietary data.

Objective:

We conducted an exploratory child-centered mixed-method study to identify user requirements for a dietary assessment tool for children aged 5-6 years old.

Methods:

Results of formative research and expert panel workshop resulted in three prototype dietary assessment tools: FoodBear, myBear, and FoodCam. All three prototypes were tested for usability (video analyses) and user experience (This or That method) among 14 Dutch 5-6-year old’s (8 boys and 6 girls) where data saturation was reached after 11 sessions.

Results:

At first encounter, most children correctly performed FoodBear’s (79%), myBear’s (71%) and FoodCam’s (64%) usability task. Usability issues related to food group categorization and recognition, frustrations due to unsatisfactory functioning of (parts) of the prototypes, recall of food products, and distinction between eating moments. No short-term differences in product preference between the three prototypes were observed, but autonomy, challenge, gaming-element, tablet-based, appearance, social-element, and timeframe were identified as important determinants of product liking.

Conclusions:

Incorporation of a training program, auditory and/or visual prompts, reminders and feedback, a user-friendly and intuitive interaction design, child-friendly food groups/icons, and room for children’s autonomy were identified as key requirements of a novel dietary assessment tool for children 5-6 years old. Results can be used to further guide innovation in the field of child’s dietary assessment.