The Use of Mobile-Based Ecological Momentary Assessment (mEMA) Methodology to Assess Dietary Intake, Food Consumption Behaviours and Context in Young People: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Mobile-based ecological momentary assessment (mEMA) offers a novel method for dietary assessment and may reduce recall bias and participant burden. This review evaluated mEMA methodology and the feasibility, acceptability and validity as a dietary assessment method in young people. Five databases were searched from January 2008 to September 2021 for studies including healthy young people aged 16–30 years and used mEMA for obtaining dietary intake data, food consumption behaviours and/or contextual factors. Data on the method used to administer mEMA, compliance with recording and validation were extracted. A total of 46 articles from 39 independent studies were included, demonstrating a wide variation in mEMA methods. Signal-contingent prompting (timed notification to record throughout the day) was used in 26 studies, 9 used event-contingent (food consumption triggered recordings), while 4 used both. Monitoring periods varied studies reported a compliance rate of 80% or more. Two studies found mEMA to be burdensome and six reported mEMA as easy to use. Most studies (31/39) reported using previously validated questions. mEMA appears to be a feasible and acceptable methodology to assess dietary intake and food consumption in near real time.

Nutrition-Related N-of-1 Studies Warrant Further Research to Provide Evidence for Dietitians to Practice Personalized (Precision) Medical Nutrition Therapy: A Systematic Review

“…Dietary intake information alongside factors such as food environment, and social, and emotional contexts can all be measured simultaneously using smart technology [ 14 ]. The method of EMA that prompts the participant at regular intervals throughout the day to share consumption information via data text entry or uploading of digital food images has been validated in several studies [ 37 , 47 ].…”

“…A clinical service for N-of-1 studies in children using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has existed in Canada for almost two decades, but CAM is not medical nutrition therapy [ 51 ]. The authors also acknowledge that the current attempt at selecting criteria for optimal dietary assessment by EMA in the existing tool was a first attempt, and validation of dietary assessment in EMA is an area for further investigation and consensus building [ 47 ]. The small number of participants and heterogeneity of design, aims and outcomes among studies did not offer the opportunity for any data aggregation for meta-analysis.…”

Wearable Cameras Reveal Large Intra-Individual Variability in Timing of Eating among Young Adults

“…Increasing the frequency of data collection throughout the day such as progressive 24-h recalls [ 72 ] or collecting dietary information near real-time may be warranted for this cohort. This can be achieved with the use of time-triggered ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to capture food intake and contextual data at pre-determined times personalized to subjects’ usual pattern of food intake [ 73 , 74 ]. Although not yet commercially available nor feasible for use in practice settings [ 75 ], wearable sensors may also be useful for capturing real-time eating behavior [ 76 ].…”

Effects of a health versus hedonic mindset on daily‐life snacking behaviour

“…In the past decade, a growing number of studies have used smartphone-based Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMA) to investigate eating and/or snacking behaviour. [77][78][79][80][81][82][83] In EMA research, participants receive multiple prompts per day containing a set of questions. Of note, this assessment is still based on participants' selfreports, and EMA works well only if compliance to the measurement protocol is sufficient.…”

“…In the past decade, a growing number of studies have used smartphone‐based Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMA) to investigate eating and/or snacking behaviour 77–83 . In EMA research, participants receive multiple prompts per day containing a set of questions.…”