INTERACTIVE SELF-REPORTED DIET ASSESSMENT

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The primary objective of this Phase II SBIR project is to fully develop and evaluate an interactive microcomputer software for a self-reported dietary assessment instrument. The framework for dietary assessment is a stepwise food group selection and quantification of the respondent's usual (or time referenced) intake of specific foods within the groups selected. This project is aimed at solutions to problems of respondent burden, reliability, validity and timeliness of data reporting through the application of microcomputer technology to an improved questionnaire design. The proposed project capitalizes on the technological advances in microcomputers with graphics capability and the demonstrated increase in respondent interest and ability to interact personally with computer queries. The commercial product is a software package that will be developed for the Apple Macintosh computer. The program is respondent directed, using the "mouse" as an input device and designed to have response automatically coded and stored for research purposes. Improvements over current methods include: . Queries including quantity estimations are presented to respondents in a uniform way. Since respondents interact with personal computers directly, interviewer variability and possible bias are eliminated. . Coding and quantity conversions are computer generated, thereby eliminating a tedious, time consuming process, as well as coding errors. . Frames of questions are modular, and can be presented to respondents in a selective fashion, depending on study needs and respondents' attention span. A full evaluation will be conducted to assess the 1) effectiveness of the system in generating quantifiable dietary intake, 2) response time, and 3) respondent acceptability.