Utility of eButton images for identifying food preparation behaviors and meal-related tasks in adolescents

Margaret Raber,Mingui Sun,Wenyan Jia,Monika Patterson,Tom Baranowski

doi:10.1186/s12937-018-0341-2

Abstract

BackgroundFood preparation skills may encourage healthy eating. Traditional assessment of child food preparation employs self- or parent proxy-reporting methods, which are prone to error. The eButton is a wearable all-day camera that has promise as an objective, passive method for measuring child food preparation practices.PurposeThis paper explores the feasibility of the eButton to reliably capture home food preparation behaviors and practices in a sample of pre- and early adolescents (ages 9 to 13).MethodsThis is a secondary analysis of two eButton pilot projects evaluating the dietary intake of pre- and early adolescents in or around Houston, Texas. Food preparation behaviors were coded into seven major categories including: browsing, altering food/adding seasoning, food media, meal related tasks, prep work, cooking and observing. Inter-coder reliability was measured using Cohen’s kappa and percent agreement.ResultsAnalysis was completed on data for 31 participants. The most common activity was browsing in the pantry or fridge. Few participants demonstrated any food preparation work beyond unwrapping of food packages and combining two or more ingredients; actual cutting or measuring of foods were rare.ConclusionsAlthough previous research suggests children who “help” prepare meals may obtain some dietary benefit, accurate assessment tools of food preparation behavior are lacking. The eButton offers a feasible approach to food preparation behavior measurement among pre- and early adolescents. Follow up research exploring the validity of this method in a larger sample, and comparisons between cooking behavior and dietary intake are needed.

Highlights

Food preparation skills may encourage healthy eating
The eButton offers a feasible approach to food preparation behavior measurement among pre- and early adolescents
Follow up research exploring the validity of this method in a larger sample, and comparisons between cooking behavior and dietary intake are needed

Summary

Introduction

Food preparation skills may encourage healthy eating. Traditional assessment of child food preparation employs self- or parent proxy-reporting methods, which are prone to error. The eButton is a wearable all-day camera that has promise as an objective, passive method for measuring child food preparation practices. Understanding child eating habits is critical for the design and evaluation of nutrition education programs, measurement of dietary intake and related factors has proven challenging [6]. Self- or parent proxy-reported methods have been used to measure child and adolescent dietary intakes [7], food preparation. Increased frequency of home cooked meals has been associated with better healthy eating index (HEI-2010). Raber et al Nutrition Journal (2018) 17:32 scores [19] and lower meal costs [19], making food preparation skill development an attractive target for healthy diet promotion. The benefits of family meals and home cooking may be amplified by the inclusion of children in food preparation. Promising effects have been observed in younger children [24,25,26]

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion