What Healthcare Professionals Think of “Nutrition & Diet” Apps: An International Survey
Accurate dietary assessment is crucial for both the prevention and treatment of nutrition-related diseases. Since mobile-based dietary assessment solutions are promising, we sought to examine the acceptability of “Nutrition and Diet” (ND) apps by Healthcare Professionals (HCP), explore their prefere...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-07-01
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| Series: | Nutrients |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/8/2214 |
| _version_ | 1797561347997696000 |
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| author | Maria F. Vasiloglou Stergios Christodoulidis Emilie Reber Thomai Stathopoulou Ya Lu Zeno Stanga Stavroula Mougiakakou |
| author_facet | Maria F. Vasiloglou Stergios Christodoulidis Emilie Reber Thomai Stathopoulou Ya Lu Zeno Stanga Stavroula Mougiakakou |
| author_sort | Maria F. Vasiloglou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Accurate dietary assessment is crucial for both the prevention and treatment of nutrition-related diseases. Since mobile-based dietary assessment solutions are promising, we sought to examine the acceptability of “Nutrition and Diet” (ND) apps by Healthcare Professionals (HCP), explore their preferences on apps’ features and identify predictors of acceptance. A 23 question survey was developed by an interdisciplinary team and pilot-tested. The survey was completed by 1001 HCP from 73 countries and 6 continents. The HCP (dietitians: 833, doctors: 75, nurses: 62, other: 31/females: 847, males: 150, neither: 4) had a mean age (SD) of 34.4 (10.2) years and mean job experience in years (SD): 7.7 (8.2). There were 45.5% who have recommended ND apps to their clients/patients. Of those who have not yet recommended an app, 22.5% do not know of their existence. Important criteria for selecting an app were ease of use (87.1%), apps being free of charge (72.6%) and validated (69%). Significant barriers were the use of inaccurate food composition database (52%), lack of local food composition database support (48.2%) and tech-savviness (43.3%). Although the adoption of smartphones is growing and mobile health research is advancing, there is room for improvement in the recommendation of ND apps by HCP. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T18:13:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0f9801b9c84a4994ae7b199582ec070c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-6643 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T18:13:38Z |
| publishDate | 2020-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nutrients |
| spelling | doaj.art-0f9801b9c84a4994ae7b199582ec070c2023-11-20T07:54:05ZengMDPI AGNutrients2072-66432020-07-01128221410.3390/nu12082214What Healthcare Professionals Think of “Nutrition & Diet” Apps: An International SurveyMaria F. Vasiloglou0Stergios Christodoulidis1Emilie Reber2Thomai Stathopoulou3Ya Lu4Zeno Stanga5Stavroula Mougiakakou6ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, University of Bern, Murtenstrasse 50, 3008 Bern, SwitzerlandARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, University of Bern, Murtenstrasse 50, 3008 Bern, SwitzerlandDepartment of Diabetes, Endocrinology, Nutritional Medicine and Metabolism, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, 3010 Bern, SwitzerlandARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, University of Bern, Murtenstrasse 50, 3008 Bern, SwitzerlandARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, University of Bern, Murtenstrasse 50, 3008 Bern, SwitzerlandDepartment of Diabetes, Endocrinology, Nutritional Medicine and Metabolism, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, 3010 Bern, SwitzerlandARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, University of Bern, Murtenstrasse 50, 3008 Bern, SwitzerlandAccurate dietary assessment is crucial for both the prevention and treatment of nutrition-related diseases. Since mobile-based dietary assessment solutions are promising, we sought to examine the acceptability of “Nutrition and Diet” (ND) apps by Healthcare Professionals (HCP), explore their preferences on apps’ features and identify predictors of acceptance. A 23 question survey was developed by an interdisciplinary team and pilot-tested. The survey was completed by 1001 HCP from 73 countries and 6 continents. The HCP (dietitians: 833, doctors: 75, nurses: 62, other: 31/females: 847, males: 150, neither: 4) had a mean age (SD) of 34.4 (10.2) years and mean job experience in years (SD): 7.7 (8.2). There were 45.5% who have recommended ND apps to their clients/patients. Of those who have not yet recommended an app, 22.5% do not know of their existence. Important criteria for selecting an app were ease of use (87.1%), apps being free of charge (72.6%) and validated (69%). Significant barriers were the use of inaccurate food composition database (52%), lack of local food composition database support (48.2%) and tech-savviness (43.3%). Although the adoption of smartphones is growing and mobile health research is advancing, there is room for improvement in the recommendation of ND apps by HCP.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/8/2214mHealthmobile applicationssmartphonedietary assessmentsurveyhealthcare professionals |
| spellingShingle | Maria F. Vasiloglou Stergios Christodoulidis Emilie Reber Thomai Stathopoulou Ya Lu Zeno Stanga Stavroula Mougiakakou What Healthcare Professionals Think of “Nutrition & Diet” Apps: An International Survey Nutrients mHealth mobile applications smartphone dietary assessment survey healthcare professionals |
| title | What Healthcare Professionals Think of “Nutrition & Diet” Apps: An International Survey |
| title_full | What Healthcare Professionals Think of “Nutrition & Diet” Apps: An International Survey |
| title_fullStr | What Healthcare Professionals Think of “Nutrition & Diet” Apps: An International Survey |
| title_full_unstemmed | What Healthcare Professionals Think of “Nutrition & Diet” Apps: An International Survey |
| title_short | What Healthcare Professionals Think of “Nutrition & Diet” Apps: An International Survey |
| title_sort | what healthcare professionals think of nutrition diet apps an international survey |
| topic | mHealth mobile applications smartphone dietary assessment survey healthcare professionals |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/8/2214 |
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