Dietary mobile apps: Acceptance among young adults

Peer-reviewed | Manuscript received: June 14, 2016 | Revision accepted: September 23, 2016

A qualitative study

Introduction

The rapid development in the performance of smartphones has led to a widespread growth in software applications, or apps for short [2, 3]. These also include food and nutrition apps (hereinafter referred to as food apps), such as e.g. food tracking apps. These apps are similar to weight logs; they record eating behavior and generate visual feedback (actual vs. target) about e.g. energy and nutrients [4]. However, most of the available food apps are not scientifically evaluated [2, 4, 5–9]; functions and data quality may vary significantly [4].

In view of the population’s affinity to technology-based tools, food apps could represent an appropriate intervention strategy to trigger changes in lifestyle and eating behavior [5, 10–13]. The competence cluster nutriCARD aims to develop a food app for adolescents and young adults which will positively influence eating behavior. This qualitative study was carried out in order to determine reasons for (non-) use of food apps [14] early on in the development process, focusing on the following area of interest: From the perspective of young adults, which factors must a food app incorporate in order to be used in the long-term?

Abstract

The growing market in smartphone apps has also spawned a number of food tracking apps which have the potential to positively influence diet and eating behavior. The objective of this study was to examine, from the user’s perspective, which factors turn a food app into an accepted tool. To this end, three food apps were tested by a total of 17 young adults over a period of one week. Their experiences and opinions were subsequently gathered and recorded in three focus groups. The transcribed material was analyzed by means of a content analysis, from which a number of acceptance factors were derived; these included easy and intuitive usability, a wide range of functions, reliability and the free availability of the app. The results underline the importance of targeted preliminary studies to guarantee acceptance of diet intervention by means of a food and nutrition app.

Keywords: food app, tracking app, acceptance, young adults, qualitative study

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