Abstract
Nutrition is a critical component of diabetes and other chronic diseases for young children. However, nutritional intake is burdensome to measure accurately and easily, making it difficult to evaluate in research or clinical contexts. This pilot study examined the feasibility and acceptability of having parents of young children with type I diabetes (T1D) use the remote food photography method (RFPM) to measure breakfast nutrition. Participants were 9 mothers of children ages 2–5 years (M age = 4.2), with a T1D duration of at least 1 year (M age = 2.4 years at diagnosis), representing diverse backgrounds (55.6% Caucasian; 44.4% African American; 55.6% married). During baseline and follow up of a healthy eating and physical activity intervention for children with T1D, parents used the RFPM to capture before and after images of their children’s breakfast. Feasibility and acceptability were assessed by adherence to taking photos, percent of usable photos, and participant satisfaction. The RFPM was feasible across participants with high adherence rates (100% at baseline and 87% at follow up) for sending usable photographs. Most participants reported satisfaction with the method. Using the RFPM to assess nutrition in a small sample of young children with T1D was feasible and acceptable. Given the importance of assessing nutrition in young children with T1D as well as other chronic illnesses (e.g., cystic fibrosis, obesity), the RFPM may be a useful tool for both research and clinical data collection in lieu of other methods. More research is needed to evaluate reliability and validity of RFPM in pediatric populations.
Implications for Impact Statement
The present study uses pilot data from a study with young children who have T1D to suggest that remote food photography, a method that has been well established in the nutrition field, could be a useful dietary intake measuring tool in pediatric psychology populations.
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