Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 6, 2025
Iterative Development of an Innovative Smartphone-Based Dietary Assessment Tool: Traqq
Published on: March 19, 2021
Development and pilot testing of the Baby-Feed web application for healthcare professionals and parents to improve
Cristina Palacios1, Jennifer Bolton1, Wenjia Wang2
1Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA.
Insights
The Baby-Feed web application helps parents and healthcare providers evaluate infant diets, improving adherence to nutrition guidelines. This tool was found to be feasible, usable, and acceptable for supporting infant health.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nutrition
- Health Informatics
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Infant diet is crucial for preventing rapid weight gain, but adherence to recommendations is challenging.
- Low adherence to infant dietary guidelines poses a public health concern.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and pilot test the "Baby-Feed" web application.
- To assess the feasibility, acceptability, satisfaction, and usability of "Baby-Feed" for parents and healthcare professionals.
- To provide immediate feedback for promoting adherence to infant dietary recommendations.
Main Methods:
- The "Baby-Feed" application was developed using the ADDIE model.
- Pilot testing involved 25 parents and 2 clinicians at a community health center.
- Feasibility, acceptability, satisfaction, and usability were evaluated via questionnaires and suggestions for improvement were collected.
Main Results:
- Most parents found "Baby-Feed" easy to use, learn, and quick, rating it 4/5 stars and intending to use it again.
- Parents reported using the application more than once per week.
- Suggestions included enhancing visuals, improving portion size images, and mobile accessibility.
Conclusions:
- The "Baby-Feed" web application is feasible, usable, satisfactory, and acceptable.
- It can serve as an effective tool for evaluating infant diets and providing timely feedback in healthcare settings.
Background:
Diet is key in preventing rapid infant weight gain but adherence to infant dietary recommendations is difficult to follow and low in adherence.
Objective:
Develop and pilot test the "Baby-Feed" web application for parents and healthcare professionals to easily evaluate infant diets and provide immediate feedback to promote adherence to current infant dietary recommendations.
Methods:
Baby-Feed was developed following the ADDIE (analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation) model. It was pilot tested among two clinicians and 25 parents of infants aged 4 to 12 months that had a scheduled well-child visit at a community health center in Miami. After 2 weeks of using Baby-Feed, parents completed a feasibility, acceptability, satisfaction, and usability questionnaire. Parents and clinicians were also asked to suggest improvements. Descriptive analysis included frequency and median (25th, 75th percentiles). One-sample binomial tests was used to evaluate if feasible, acceptable, satisfactory, and usable.
Results:
Twenty-three parents completed the evaluation (all were mothers), 31.0 (26.0, 33.0) years-old, 96% Hispanic, 83% had ≥ high school education, with 1.5 (1.0, 2.0) children. Infants' age was 6.1 (4.0, 9.0) months and 57% were boys. Binomial tests indicated that most parents (greater than87%) agreed that Baby-Feed was easy to use, learn, quick, would use it again, rated it as 4/5 stars. They used it greater than 1 times per week (p < 0.001). Parents suggested improving the visuals (more icons, colors, and pictures) and images of portion sizes, highlighting missing fields, being able to view/open it on their phones, and adding recipes and more information. The two clinicians (a pediatrician and a physician assistant) suggested to be open-access and to add more infant nutrition information.
Conclusion:
Baby-Feed was feasible, usable, satisfactory, and acceptable. It could be used as a tool to easily evaluate infant diets in the healthcare setting to provide immediate feedback.
