A Validation Study Concerning the Effects of Interview Content, Retention Interval, and Grade on Children's Recall Accuracy for Dietary Intake and/or Physical Activity

Abstract

Background Practitioners and researchers are interested in assessing children’s dietary intake and physical activity together to maximize resources and minimize subject burden. Objective To investigate differences in dietary and/or physical-activity recall accuracy by content (diet-only; physical-activity-only; diet-&-physical-activity), retention interval (same-day-recalls-in-the-afternoon; previous-day-recalls-in-the-morning), and grade (third; fifth). Design Children (n=144; 66% African American, 13% White, 12% Hispanic, 9% Other; 50% girls) from four schools were randomly selected for interviews about one of three contents. Each content group was equally divided by retention interval, each equally divided by grade, each equally divided by sex. Information concerning diet and physical activity at school was validated with school-provided breakfast and lunch observations, and accelerometry, respectively. Dietary accuracy measures were food-item omission and intrusion rates, and kilocalorie correspondence rate and inflation ratio. Physical activity accuracy measures were absolute and arithmetic differences for moderate-to-vigorous-physical-activity minutes. Statistical analyses performed For each accuracy measure, linear models determined effects of content, retention interval, grade, and their two-way and three-way interactions; ethnicity and sex were control variables. Results Content was significant within four interactions: intrusion rate (content-×-retention-interval-×-grade; p=.0004), correspondence rate (content-×-grade; p=.0004), inflation ratio (content-×-grade; p=.0104), and arithmetic difference (content-×-retention-interval-×-grade; p=.0070). Retention interval was significant for correspondence rate (p=.0004), inflation ratio (p=.0014), and three interactions: omission rate (retention-interval-×-grade; p=.0095), intrusion rate, and arithmetic difference (both already mentioned). Grade was significant for absolute difference (p=.0233) and five interactions mentioned. Content effects depended on other factors. Grade effects were mixed. Dietary accuracy was better with same-day than previous-day retention interval. Conclusions Results do not support integrating dietary intake and physical activity in children’s recalls, but do support using shorter rather than longer retention intervals to yield more accurate dietary recalls. Further validation studies need to clarify age effects and identify evidence-based practices to improve children’s accuracy for recalling dietary intake and/or physical activity.

Effectiveness of Prompts on Fourth-Grade Children–s Dietary Recall Accuracy Depends on Retention Interval and Varies by Gender

“…Three researchers observed school-provided meals according to an established protocol with training through practice (12,(15)(16)(17)(21)(22)(23). Before data collection and weekly throughout data collection each school year, interobserver reliability was assessed for each pair of observers according to established procedures (12,16,17,(21)(22)(23)38).…”

“…Before data collection and weekly throughout data collection each school year, interobserver reliability was assessed for each pair of observers according to established procedures (12,16,17,(21)(22)(23)38). During data collection for breakfast for the 3 school years, interobserver reliability was assessed on 44, 72, and 23 children: mean agreement between observers to within one-fourth of a serving on amounts eaten was 99%, 99%, and 100%.…”

“…Children in upper elementary grades have provided 24-h recalls without parental help for various research projects (2,(6)(7)(8)(9)(10), but validation studies have identified errors-both omissions and intrusions-in childrenÕs recalls (5,(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23).…”

“…One certainly influential factor is retention interval (RI) 10 (time between meals to be reported and the interview): validation studies show that childrenÕs recall accuracy is better when the RI is shorter (12,14,(21)(22)(23)(24)(25). The RI for a 24-h recall depends on choices of both the target period [e.g., prior 24 h (24 h immediately preceding the interview) and previous day (midnight to midnight of the day before the interview)] and interview time of day (e.g., morning, afternoon, and evening).…”

“…There were 4 hypotheses, with the first 2 based on our small unpublished validation study: 1) the joint effect of RI and prompts on accuracy would overshadow the effect of either by itself; 2) the joint effect of RI and prompts would differ for boys and girls (i.e., an RI 3 prompt 3 gender interaction); 3) accuracy would be better for the short rather than long RI (12,14,(21)(22)(23)(24)(25); and 4) interview length would be greater for the short rather than long RI (27)(28)(29), and when open prompts were used instead of the other 3 prompts.…”