Feasibility of the Young Children's Nutrition Assessment on the Web

Methods to assess detailed dietary data are cumbersome, expensive, and difficult to implement with large samples. The purpose of the present article was to evaluate the feasibility of collecting data from parents about their child's diet using an online dietary assessment tool. The Young Children's Nutrition Assessment on the Web was developed as part of a longitudinal study of familial influences on food intake of preschool children. A sample of 862 parents from 56 nursery schools completed a paper-and-pencil questionnaire containing sociodemographic variables and a food frequency questionnaire about their child's diet and psychosocial variables. Subsequently, a subset of parents was asked to either complete a paper-and-pencil food diary or the Young Children's Nutrition Assessment on the Web (n=88); those remaining who provided e-mail addresses were asked to complete the Young Children's Nutrition Assessment on the Web (n=467) and a user-acceptability questionnaire. This resulted in 39 useful paper-and-pencil diaries, 217 useful Young Children's Nutrition Assessments on the Web, and 164 user-acceptability questionnaires. Mann-Whitney U tests comparing nutrient (macronutrients, vitamin C, calcium, and fiber) and food group intakes from data collected with the Young Children's Nutrition Assessment on the Web vs paper-and-pencil diaries resulted in no substantial differences except for water. Attrition analyses indicated that dropout for the online assessment was associated with the sex of the respondent (father completing the questionnaire), lower social status, being a smoker, and lower nutrition knowledge. The online measure was well-received by respondents. The majority found it user-friendly (79%), attractive (68%), and clear (93%). The Young Children's Nutrition Assessment on the Web is a promising tool to collect online dietary data in large-scale surveys.