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Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to evaluate dietary patterns of low-income adult women in real-time
Hager, E., Hurley, K. M., Latta, L. W., Caulfield, L. E., & Black, M. M. (2011). Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to evaluate dietary patterns of low-income adult women in real-time. Faseb journal, 25(S1), 341.6-341.6. https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.341.6
Objective To examine the feasibility of EMA to measure diet among low-income women.
Methods WIC participants completed a 1-day 24 hour recall, HEI 2005 scores were calculated. Participants received a handheld PDA (Palm Z22) to collect EMA data. The device beeped 53 times over 8 days. Participants reported on foods/drinks being consumed at that time and were unaware of the beep schedule. Feasibility was defined as % with valid EMA data, overall % of responses to beeps, and % of times food/drinks were consumed. Convergent validity was evaluated by comparison with HEI-2005, adjusting for EMA compliance and BMI.
Results 110 women, mean age 28 yrs (range 18–45), 60% White, 29% Black, 5% Latino, 73% overweight/obese participated. 92% had valid EMA data. Mean proportion of responses to beeps=45%, proportion of times food/drinks consumed=21%/43%. Participants reporting frequent (non-diet) soda consumption via EMA had lower total HEI2005 scores (r=−0.27, p=0.008), and higher “added sugar” (r=0.347, p=0.001). Participants reporting frequent fruit consumption had higher total HEI2005 scores (r=0.24, p=0.018).
Conclusions EMA is a feasible method of assessing diet and displays convergent validity with 24 hour recall. EMA is an innovative, promising method of assessing diet, allowing participants to report on behavior/context of behavior in real time at multiple time points in natural settings.
