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Assessing daily diabetes management by 24-hour recall interview: the validity of children's reports
L A Reynolds1, S B Johnson, J Silverstein
1University of Florida Health Science Center.
Insights
Diabetic children aged 7-12 accurately recalled most daily events like insulin injections and glucose tests. However, they tended to underreport dietary and some exercise behaviors in 24-hour recall data.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Behavioral Science
- Health Informatics
Background:
- Accurate dietary and physical activity data are crucial for managing childhood diabetes.
- Self-report measures, like 24-hour recalls, are commonly used but their accuracy in pediatric populations needs validation.
- Direct observation offers a reliable benchmark for assessing recall accuracy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the accuracy of 24-hour recall data collected from children with diabetes.
- To compare children's self-reported behaviors with directly observed data.
- To identify specific behaviors that may be over- or underreported by diabetic children.
Main Methods:
- Study involved children aged 7-12 diagnosed with diabetes.
- Direct observation of children's daily behaviors served as the criterion standard.
- Children's 24-hour dietary and activity recall data were compared against observer data.
- Inter-rater reliability of observer data was assessed to ensure data quality.
Main Results:
- Observer data demonstrated high reliability, validating its use as a standard.
- Children showed excellent agreement with observed data regarding the occurrence of events (e.g., insulin injections, glucose tests, meals).
- Recall accuracy for the type and amount of insulin injected was also high.
- Children tended to underreport dietary intake and certain physical activity behaviors, though differences were generally small.
Conclusions:
- 24-hour recall is a reasonably accurate method for assessing key diabetes management behaviors in children aged 7-12.
- While generally reliable, a tendency for underreporting in diet and exercise warrants consideration in clinical practice.
- Findings support the use of validated recall methods for pediatric diabetes research and management.
Abstract:
The current investigation examined the accuracy of diabetic children's 24-hr recall data by comparing the 7- to 12-year-old children's reports to direct observations of their behavior. Observers' data evidenced sufficient reliability to serve as an acceptable standard to which the children's 24-hr recall data could be compared. The children exhibited excellent agreement with the observers' data on all measures of the occurrence/nonoccurrence of events, including insulin injections, exercise periods, glucose tests, meal, type and amount of insulin injected. Although somewhat poorer reporters on some behaviors, differences were small. Children underreported most dietary behaviors and some exercise behaviors.