Healthy diet and lifestyles assessment using a mEMA approach: protocol of the HEALTHY-UNICT study

Abstract

Abstract Background Dietary intake, physical activity and other lifestyle factors, behaviors known to change in college students, may affect long-term health outcomes. The mobile Ecological Momentary Assessment (mEMA) methods represent an innovative, detailed and valid approach to capture the complexity of food intake and behaviors and to overcome limitations of traditional dietary assessment methods. The main aim of the HEALTHY-UNICT study is to characterize heating habits, including Mediterranean Diet adherence, and others lifestyle factors, and their relationship with anthropometrics and emotions in a sample of college students of the University of Catania, using real-time mEMA methods and an innovative custom mEMA application. Methods Data will be collected using a mEMA tool administered via a web-based application. mEMA data collection will be carried out in two waves during the second semester of the academic year. During each wave, participants will receive prompts via the text messages to complete the surveys during four selected days, eight times per day. Results This abstract describes the protocol of the study. The HEALTHY-UNICT study aims to follow university students from a large university. A total of 100 students will be enrolled in the pilot phase. Expected results are the characterization of dietary behaviors, including Mediterranean diet adherence, food choices and others lifestyle factors, including smoking habits and physical activity and their relationship with anthropometrics and emotions in the sample of college students of the University of Catania. Conclusions The project idea should be relevant since results of the study could be useful to identify targets for the improvement of health and the promotion of healthy lifestyles in young adults. The HEALTHY-UNICT project will contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the area of food and nutrition, to improve nutrition and lifestyle, through actions that combine tradition and innovation. Key messages The study will provide a better understanding of the food choices that college students make and insights for individual and population level prevention interventions. Findings of this study could be used to develop targeted interventions that encourage healthy food choices and healthy habit and ultimately reduce the risk of overweight and others adverse outcomes.