Validity of assessing child feeding with virtual reality

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Science
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Pediatric Nutrition

Background:

• Assessing parental child feeding behavior presents significant methodological challenges.
• Existing methods for evaluating feeding behaviors have limitations.
• Virtual reality (VR) technology offers a novel approach to creating behavioral measures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the validity and usability of the Virtual Reality (VR) Buffet for assessing parents' child feeding behavior.
• To compare parent feeding behaviors in a virtual environment with their real-world actions.
• To assess parents' perceptions of the VR Buffet tool.

Main Methods:

• Fifty-two parents of children aged 3-7 participated.
• Participants served meals in both virtual and real-world settings.
• Food serving amounts, calorie content perception, and VR Buffet usability were assessed.

Main Results:

• Virtual and real-world food serving amounts showed significant correlations (pasta: r_s=0.613, P<0.0001; juice: r_s=0.822, P<0.0001).
• Parents' perception of calorie content correlated significantly with observed content (r_s=0.438, P=0.002).
• Parents rated the VR Buffet favorably, indicating willingness to use the created meals for their children.

Conclusions:

• Parental feeding behavior within the VR Buffet strongly correlates with real-world behavior.
• The VR Buffet is a valid, usable, and well-received tool for assessing child feeding behaviors.
• This technology provides a valuable addition to the methods available for feeding behavior assessment.