Application and Adaptation of a Tool for Measuring Skin Carotenoids in Community-Based Settings: A Mixed Methods...

Evaluation of public health nutrition interventions designed to increase fruit and vegetable intake is critical to understanding and improving these projects. Challenges with self-reported dietary intake data and the feasibility of biochemical assessments in community-based settings have led to the use of skin carotenoid measurements as an alternative measure of fruit and vegetable intake.

Understand how the Veggie Meter (Longevity Link), a tool for measuring skin carotenoids, is applied and adapted for use in community-based settings to measure fruit and vegetable intake.

This mixed-methods study applied a convergent parallel design. Quantitative data were collected via an online survey. Qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted with individuals who had experience collecting Veggie Meter data in community-based settings.

Fourteen individuals with experience collecting data with the Veggie Meter in a community-based setting enrolled. Fourteen surveys were collected via Qualtrics, and 10 audiorecorded interviews were conducted via Zoom from March through July 2023.

Descriptive statistics were calculated for survey results. A constructivist approach was applied to the qualitative interview data.

Fourteen individuals completed the survey, and of those individuals, 10 also completed an interview. Three main themes were identified to describe application and adaptation of the Veggie Meter in community-based settings: balancing protocol adherence with contextual adaptation in Veggie Meter use, implementation and operation of the Veggie Meter in community-based settings, and strategies for maximizing participant engagement with the Veggie Meter.

Use of the Veggie Meter for data collection in community-based settings necessitated adaptation of standard protocols to meet the varied needs of the environments, communities, and participants where evaluation of public health nutrition interventions occurred.