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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Overweight is associated with a range of negative health consequences, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disorders, and premature mortality. One means to combat overweight is through encouraging people to eat more slowly. People who eat quickly tend to consume more and have a higher body mass index, whereas people who eat more slowly feel satiated sooner and eat less. Unfortunately, eating rate is difficult to modify, because of its highly automatic nature. In clinical settings, researchers have had some success changing behavior by using devices that deliver feedback in real time. However, existing technologies are either too cumbersome or not engaging enough for use in daily life contexts. Training people to eat more slowly in everyday eating contexts, therefore, requires creative and engaging solutions. This article presents a qualitative evaluation of the feasibility of a smart fork to decelerate eating rate in daily life contexts. Furthermore, we outline the planned research to test the efficacy of this device in both laboratory and community settings.
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Reductions in eating rate have been recommended as potential behavioral strategies to prevent and treat overweight. Unfortunately, eating rate is difficult to modify, due to its highly automatic nature. Training people to eat more slowly in everyday eating contexts, therefore, requires creative and engaging solutions. The present study examines the efficacy of a smart fork that helps people to eat more slowly. This adapted fork records eating speed and delivers vibrotactile feedback if users eat too quickly. In two studies, we tested the acceptability and user experience of the fork (Study 1), and its effect on eating rate and satiety levels in a controlled lab-setting (Study 2).
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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 Emotional eating is a complex problem fostering obesity and resulting from maladaptive emotionregulation. Traditional behavioural weight loss interventions have shown insignificant effect. They can be improvedby targeting the specific needs of individuals with emotional eating.Objective The current study explored a tailored online approach with the aim to positively influence affect (positiveand negative) and emotion regulation by applying one of three exercises: body scan, opposite action, and positivereappraisal.Design An embedded mixed‑method design (questionnaire data (t0, t1, t2) and perceived usefulness of exercisesin t2) was used to evaluate the effects of a two‑week online quasi‑experimental pilot study.Subjects/setting In total, 80 participants with self‑reported emotional eating difficulties (DEBQ‑E; Memo = 3.48,SD = .64, range 1.62–4.92) finished baseline measurements; 15 completed the intervention. The study sample was pre‑dominantly female (95%), from 18 till 66 (Mage = 38,0 ± SD = 14.25).Results Participants reported that the exercises helped them to pay attention to their physical sensations, and to see positive aspects in negative matters. The exercises were considered difficult by the participants, with too littleexplanation, and dull, due to minor variation. The observed changes revealed small, and moreover, not significant improvements of the three exercises on positive and negative affect and overall emotion dysregulation. Although the quantitative results did not reach significance, the qualitative data highlighted which aspects of the tailored exer‑cises may have contributed to mood and emotion regulation outcomes. A notable observation in the present studyis the substantial dropout rate, with the number of participants decreasing from 80 at baseline (T0) to 15 at the post‑intervention stage (T2).Conclusions Future studies should identify tailored online exercises in emotion regulation skills in more detailand explore the contexts in which they are most effective in a personalized virtual coach virtual coach to be devel‑oped for individuals with emotional eating. Given the high dropout rate, more emphasis should be given to a properpresentation of the exercises, as well as more explanation of their usefulness and how to perform them.
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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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Background: In face-to-face therapy for eating disorders, therapeutic alliance (TA) is an important predictor of symptomreduction and treatment completion. To date, however, little is known about TA during web-based cognitive behavioral therapy(web-CBT) and its association with symptom reduction, treatment completion, and the perspectives of patients versus therapists.Objective: This study aimed to investigate TA ratings measured at interim and after treatment, separately for patients andtherapists; the degree of agreement between therapists and patients (treatment completers and noncompleters) for TA ratings;and associations between patient and therapist TA ratings and both eating disorder pathology and treatment completion.Methods: A secondary analysis was performed on randomized controlled trial data of a web-CBT intervention for eatingdisorders. Participants were 170 females with bulimia nervosa (n=33), binge eating disorder (n=68), or eating disorder nototherwise specified (n=69); the mean age was 39.6 (SD 11.5) years. TA was operationalized using the Helping AllianceQuestionnaire (HAQ). Paired t tests were conducted to assess the change in TA from interim to after treatment. Intraclasscorrelations were calculated to determine cross-informant agreement with regard to HAQ scores between patients and therapists.A total of 2 stepwise regressive procedures (at interim and after treatment) were used to examine which HAQ scores predictedeating disorder pathology and therapy completion.Results: For treatment completers (128/170, 75.3%), the HAQ-total scores and HAQ-Helpfulness scores for both patients andtherapists improved significantly from interim to post treatment. For noncompleters (42/170, 24.7%), all HAQ scores decreasedsignificantly. For all HAQ scales, the agreement between patients and therapists was poor. However, the agreement was slightlybetter after treatment than at interim. Higher patient scores on the helpfulness subscale of the HAQ at interim and after treatmentwere associated with less eating disorder psychopathology. A positive association was found between the HAQ-total patientscores at interim and treatment completion. Finally, posttreatment HAQ-total patient scores and posttreatment HAQ-Helpfulnessscores of therapists were positively associated with treatment completion.Conclusions: Our study showed that TA in web-CBT is predictive of eating disorder pathology and treatment completion. Ofparticular importance is patients’ confidence in their abilities as measured with the HAQ-Helpfulness subscale when predictingposttreatment eating disorder pathology and treatment completion.
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Aim and method: To examine in obese people the potential effectiveness of a six-week, two times weekly aquajogging program on body composition, fitness, health-related quality of life and exercise beliefs. Fifteen otherwise healthy obese persons participated in a pilot study. Results: Total fat mass and waist circumference decreased 1.4 kg (p = .03) and 3.1 cm (p = .005) respectively. The distance in the Six-Minute Walk Test increased 41 meters (p = .001). Three scales of the Impact of Weight on Quality of Life-Lite questionnaire improved: physical function (p = .008), self-esteem (p = .004), and public distress (p = .04). Increased perceived exercise benefits (p = .02) and decreased embarrassment (p = .03) were observed. Conclusions: Aquajogging was associated with reduced body fat and waist circumference, and improved aerobic fitness and quality of life. These findings suggest the usefulness of conducting a randomized controlled trial with long-term outcome assessments.
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De snelheid waarmee we eten, speelt een belangrijke rol in ons eetgedrag. Leidt een vork die helpt om langzaam te eten tot een verandering in eetsnelheid, verzadiging en voedselinname?
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