Grant Number:	5R44CA096162-03 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Di Noia, Jennifer
Organization:	Intersystems, Inc.
Project Title:	Assessing African American Adolescent Food Intakes
Fiscal Year:	2005

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Phase II SBIR will fully develop and validate the Healthy Eating Self-Monitoring Tool (HEST), a CD-ROM-mediated food record for measuring fruit and vegetable consumption among economically disadvantaged Black adolescents aged 11 though 14 years. Drawing from Phase I outcome data and current best practices in dietary assessment, Phase II will document planned revisions to the prototype HEST developed in Phase I of this research. Planned revisions will undergo review by a panel of professionals with expertise in dietary assessment and focus groups of adolescents, representative of the target population. Feedback provided by these referents will inform plans to fully develop the measure. The fully developed HEST will be programmed for CD-ROM-mediated delivery. In a randomized repeated measures control-group design, the performance of the HEST relative tactual intake and intake measured via 3-day food records will be examined. Recruited through social service agencies across greater New York City, a sample of 300 informed and consenting youths will be randomized to experimental and control study arms. Groups of participants will be served breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals over a consecutive 3-day period. Following meals, experimental-arm youths will record their fruit and vegetable consumption using the HEST. Control-arm youths will record their intakes using 3-day food records. Data provided by youths will be used to establish the criterion-related and convergent validity and test-retest reliability of the HEST. Should Phase II prove successful, Phase III will entail dissemination of the HEST to schools and social service agencies such as those participating in this research and development effort. The fully developed measure is intended for use as a self-monitoring tool in health promotion programs designed to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among economically disadvantaged Black adolescents.





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