Eating healthier at work can substantially promote health and well-being among knowledge workers. However, little has been investigated on designing digital tools and interventions specialized in improving workday eating routines. This paper presents a user-centered contextual inquiry based on mixed-methods with an online questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. This study aimed to understand knowledge workers’ eating experiences and identify design opportunities and application strategies of digital tools to improve current practices. The questionnaire feedback from 54 Dutch knowledge workers revealed that their concerns over productivity, health and nutrition, energy support, and well-being could be decisive in shaping their eating routines at work. Furthermore, the results of 12 interview sessions suggested a set of expected digital features to encourage healthy eating at work, including health knowledge access, goal setting and self-tracking, technology-assisted health programs, and social support. Additionally, our findings also indicated that these digital features should be integrated into the office setting to offer personalized feedback and contextualized health interventions. Based on these findings, we derive design opportunities for workplace digital tools to promote healthy eating and discuss their potential contributions and future work to improved office vitality.
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Eating healthier at work can substantially promote health for office workers. However, little has been investigated on designing pervasive health interventions specialized in improving workday eating patterns. This paper presents a design study of an mHealth app called EAT@WORK, which was designed to support office workers in the Netherlands in developing healthy eating behaviors in work routines. Based on semi-structured interviews with 12 office workers from a variety of occupations, we synthesized four key features for EAT@WORK, including supporting easy access to relevant knowledge, assisting goal setting, integrating with health programs, and facilitating peer supports. The user acceptance of EAT@WORK was examined through a within-subject study with 14 office workers, followed by a qualitative study on the applicability of app features to different working contexts. Quantitative results showed that EAT@WORK was experienced more useful than a benchmark app (p < 0.01) and EAT@WORK was also perceived easier to use than the benchmark app (p < 0.01). The qualitative analysis suggested that the goal assistant feature could be valuable for different working contexts, while the integrated health program was considered more suitable for office work than telework. The social and knowledge support were expected to be on-demand features that should loosely be bonded with the working contexts. Based on these findings, we discuss design implications for the future development of such mHealth technologies to promote healthy eating routines among office workers.
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Background Eating behaviour of older adults is influenced by a complex interaction of determinants. Understanding the determinants of a specific target group is important when developing targeted health-promoting strategies. The aim of this study was to explore interpersonal determinants of eating behaviours in older adults living independently in a specific neighbourhood in the Netherlands. Methods In the neighbourhood of interest, populated by relatively many older adults, fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with independently living older adults (aged 76.9 ± 6.4y). Interviews were complemented with observations among the target group: three occasions of grocery shopping and three collective eating occasions in the neighbourhood. A thematic approach was used to analyse the qualitative data. Results When we asked the older adults unprompted why they eat what they eat, the influence of interpersonal determinants did not appear directly; respondents rather mentioned individual (e.g. habits) and environmental factors (e.g. food accessibility). Key findings regarding interpersonal factors were: 1) Behaviours are shaped by someone’s context; 2) Living alone influences (determinants of) eating behaviour via multiple ways; 3) There is a salient norm that people do not interfere with others’ eating behaviour; 4) Older adults make limited use of social support (both formal and informal) for grocery shopping and cooking, except for organised eating activities in the neighbourhood. In this particular neighbourhood, many facilities (e.g. shops at walking distance) are present, and events (e.g. dinners) are organised with and for the target group, which likely impact (determinants of) their behaviours. Conclusions The study showed that older adults do not directly think of interpersonal factors influencing their eating behaviour, but rather of individual or environmental factors. However, multiple interpersonal factors did appear in the interviews and observations. Moreover, neighbourhood-specific factors seem to play a role, which underlines the need to understand the specific (social) setting when developing and implementing intervention programmes. Insights from this study can assist in developing health-promoting strategies for older adults, taking into account the context of the specific neighbourhood.
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"A proportion of those with eating disorders have also experienced traumatic events and ongoing symptoms of PTSD such as re-experiencing of the trauma and nightmares. We implemented an innovative trauma intervention called Imagery Rescripting (ImRs) to explore whether for those undergoing inpatient treatment for an eating disorder (in an underweight phase), it would be possible to treat the various trauma-related symptoms as well as the eating problems. Since this has not been investigated before, we asked the participants in this study to recount their experiences. Twelve participants who were underweight, reported a past history of trauma and were in an inpatient eating disordertreatment program participated in ImRs therapy intervention. One of these participant did not engage in the ImRs therapy because she discontinued the inpatient ED treatment. Analysis of interviews with these participants found that -although they were reluctant before the start of the treatment- the ImRs treatment during their inpatient admission had given them hope again. They added that it was important to have support from group members, sociotherapists and therapists. They shared a number of ways that the ImRs treatment could be adapted to people with eating disorders. Their experiences indicated that given these factors it was possible to treat PTSD during an underweight phase. This is important: until now, treatment for eating disorders has not specifically been trauma-focused and these tips have scope to improve the ImRs intervention and eating disorder treatment more broadly in the future."
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Eating rate is a basic determinant of appetite regulation, as people who eat more slowly feel sated earlier and eat less. Without assistance, eating rate is difficult to modify due to its automatic nature. In the current study, participants used an augmented fork that aimed to decelerate their rate of eating. A total of 114 participants were randomly assigned to the Feedback Condition (FC), in which they received vibrotactile feedback from their fork when eating too fast (i.e., taking more than one bite per 10 s), or a Non-Feedback Condition (NFC). Participants in the FC took fewer bites per minute than did those in the NFC. Participants in the FC also had a higher success ratio, indicating that they had significantly more bites outside the designated time interval of 10 s than did participants in the NFC. A slower eating rate, however, did not lead to a significant reduction in the amount of food consumed or level of satiation.These findings indicate that real-time vibrotactile feedback delivered through an augmented fork is capable of reducing eating rate, but there is no evidence from this study that this reduction in eating rate is translated into an increase in satiation or reduction in food consumption. Overall, this study shows that real-time vibrotactile feedback may be a viable tool in interventions that aim to reduce eating rate. The long-term effectiveness of this form of feedback on satiation and food consumption, however, awaits further investigation.
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This study was motivated by a desire to help working-age individuals gain a better understanding of their daily nutritional intakes with a new self-reported dietary assessment method because an unhealthy eating behavior increases the risks of developing chronic diseases. In this study, we present the design and evaluation of NutriColoring, a food diary that leverages doodling on sketches to report and reflect on everyday diet in the working context. Through a 2-week field study involving 18 participants, the usefulness of NutriColoring in facilitating dietary assessment was tested by making comparisons with the typical bullet diary method. Our quantitative results showed that NutriColoring provided users with improved dietary assessment experience and intrinsic motivations, with significantly low task frustration and high enjoyment. Because of the freedom and playfulness in reporting intakes at work, the interview findings showed a high acceptance of employing NutriColoring at work. This article is concluded with a set of implications for the design and development of a Doodling toolkit to support healthy eating behaviors among office workers.
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Specific approaches are needed to reach and support people with a lower socioeconomic position (SEP) to achieve healthier eating behaviours. There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that digital health tools exhibit potential to address these needs because of its specific features that enable application of various behaviour change techniques (BCTs). The aim of this scoping review is to identify the BCTs that are used in diet-related digital interventions targeted at people with a low SEP, and which of these BCTs coincide with improved eating behaviour. The systematic search was performed in 3 databases, using terms related to e/m-health, diet quality and socioeconomic position. A total of 17 full text papers were included. The average number of BCTs per intervention was 6.9 (ranged 3–15). BCTs from the cluster ‘Goals and planning’ were applied most often (25x), followed by the clusters ‘Shaping knowledge’ (18x) and ‘Natural consequences’ (18x). Other frequently applied BCT clusters were ‘Feedback and monitoring’ (15x) and ‘Comparison of behaviour’ (13x). Whereas some BCTs were frequently applied, such as goal setting, others were rarely used, such as social support. Most studies (n = 13) observed a positive effect of the intervention on eating behaviour (e.g. having breakfast) in the low SEP group, but this was not clearly associated with the number or type of applied BCTs. In conclusion, more intervention studies focused on people with a low SEP are needed to draw firm conclusions as to which BCTs are effective in improving their diet quality. Also, further research should investigate combinations of BCTs, the intervention design and context, and the use of multicomponent approaches. We encourage intervention developers and researchers to describe interventions more thoroughly, following the systematics of a behaviour change taxonomy, and to select BCTs knowingly.
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Background and aimsThe aim of this study was to gain insight in the effect of a preschool-based intervention for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) teachers on promoting healthy eating and physical activity in toddlers.MethodsIn a cluster randomized controlled trial, 37 preschools of child care organization Impuls in Amsterdam Nieuw-West, the Netherlands, were randomly allocated to an intervention or control group. In total, 115 female ECEC teachers (mean age 42 ± 9 years) participated. The intervention for ECEC teachers consisted of two existing Dutch programs: ‘A Healthy Start’ and ‘PLAYgrounds’. The practices and knowledge of ECEC teachers concerning healthy eating and physical activity and the level of confidence in promoting healthy eating and physical activity in toddlers was assessed at baseline and 9 months of follow-up. To examine the effect of the intervention linear mixed models were used.ResultsPreliminary analyses of the practices indicated that Activity-related-Teaching/Autonomy-Support was increased in the intervention group (mean difference: 0.181), but not in the control group (mean difference: -0.048; p-value group*time: 0.025). Food-related-Pressure-to-Eat was decreased in the intervention group (mean difference: -0.580), but not in the control group (mean difference: -0.158; p-value group*time: 0.014). No effect of the intervention was found on knowledge (p-value group*time: 0.24) and the level of confidence (p-value group*time: 0.98) of ECEC teachers. ConclusionsThe preschool-based intervention seems to increase Activity-related-Teaching/Autonomy-Support and to decrease Food-related-Pressure-to-Eat. No effects were seen on knowledge and level of confidence of ECEC teachers in promoting healthy eating and physical activity in toddlers.
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The aim was to study the needs, opportunities and effects of citizen engagement in the urban food system transition. This addresses the issue of - ‘how’, ‘in what ways’ and ‘through what methods’ - citizens can be engaged in the developments towards a more sustainable and healthy regional food system. The research project sought to investigate the roles citizen engagement can take in the transformation of the urban food environment towards healthier and sustainable food consumption patterns. The study covers desired food futures; food discourse; the message our bodies convey about our eating habits; the effect of Covid-19 on food pattern transformations; the term 'organic' in relation to food; mass media as a source of information about food.
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Purpose – Self-efficacy has often been found to play a significant role in healthy dietary behaviours. However, self-efficacy interventions most often consist of intensive interventions. The authors aim to provide more insight into the effect of brief self-efficacy interventions on healthy dietary behaviours. Design/methodology/approach – In the present article, two randomized controlled trials are described. In study 1, a brief self-efficacy intervention with multiple self-efficacy techniques integrated on a flyer is tested, and in study 2, an online brief self-efficacy intervention with a single self-efficacy technique is tested. Findings – The results show that a brief self-efficacy intervention can directly increase vegetable intake and indirectly improve compliance to a diet plan to eat healthier. Originality/value – These findings suggest that self-efficacy interventions do not always have to be intensive to change dietary behaviours and that brief self-efficacy interventions can also lead to more healthy dietary behaviours.
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