Abstract
BackgroundWeb-based time-use diaries for schoolchildren are limited, and existing studies focus mostly on capturing physical activities and sedentary behaviors but less comprehensively on dietary behaviors.ObjectiveThis study aims to describe the development of My E-Diary for Activities and Lifestyle (MEDAL)—a self-administered, web-based time-use application to assess diet and movement behavior—and to evaluate its usability in schoolchildren in Singapore.MethodsMEDAL was developed through formative research and an iterative user-centric design approach involving small groups of schoolchildren (ranging from n=5 to n=15, aged 7-13 years). To test the usability, children aged 10-11 years were recruited from 2 primary schools in Singapore to complete MEDAL for 2 weekdays and 2 weekend days and complete a 10-item usability questionnaire.ResultsThe development process revealed that younger children (aged <9 years) were less able to complete MEDAL independently. Of the 204 participants (118/204, 57.8% boys, and 31/201, 15.4% overweight) in the usability study, 57.8% (118/204) completed 3 to 4 days of recording, whereas the rest recorded for 2 days or less. The median time taken to complete MEDAL was 14.2 minutes per day. The majority of participants agreed that instructions were clear (193/203, 95.1%), that MEDAL was easy to use (173/203, 85.2%), that they liked the application (172/202, 85.1%), and that they preferred recording their activities on the web than on paper (167/202, 82.7%). Among all the factors evaluated, recording for 4 days was the least satisfactory component reported. Compared with boys, girls reported better recall ability and agreed that the time spent on completing 1-day entry was appropriate.ConclusionsMEDAL appears to be a feasible application to capture diet and movement behaviors in children aged 10-12 years, particularly in the Asian context. Some gender differences in usability performance were observed, but the majority of the participants had a positive experience using MEDAL. The validation of the data collected through the application is in progress.
Highlights
BackgroundThe prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents has increased in recent decades, and this rising trend has surged in parts of Asia [1]
Questionnaires completed by children are valuable tools to collect health behavioral data, they have the following limitations: (1) they often focus on a single health behavior; (2) they typically involve long-term recall, which is cognitively demanding for children [5,6]; and (3) they rarely capture emerging health behaviors, such as nonscreen time sedentary behaviors, light-intensity physical activities, outdoor time, and tasks done concurrently [7,8]
We developed a self-administered, web-based time-use application to assess diet and movement behaviors in schoolchildren: My E-Diary for Activities and Lifestyle (MEDAL)
Summary
BackgroundThe prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents has increased in recent decades, and this rising trend has surged in parts of Asia [1]. Objective methods of measuring health behaviors are increasingly being used, they do not provide information on the type of activity or food consumed [9,10]. To address these limitations, a growing number of studies have used the time-use approach in children to collect information on health behaviors [11]. Web-based time-use diaries for schoolchildren are limited, and existing studies focus mostly on capturing physical activities and sedentary behaviors but less comprehensively on dietary behaviors
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