NutriDiary, a Smartphone-Based Dietary Record App: Description and Usability Evaluation

Background: Repeated applications of short-term dietary assessment instruments are recommended for estimating usual dietary intake. For this purpose, NutriDiary, a smartphone app for collecting weighed dietary records (WDRs) in the German population, was developed. Objective: We aim to describe NutriDiary and evaluate its usability and acceptability. Methods: NutriDiary was developed as a WDR, allowing users to enter food items via text search, barcode scanning, or free text entry. The sample for the evaluation study included 74 participants (n=51, 69% female, aged 18-64 years), including 27 (37.5%) experts and 47 (63.5%) laypersons (including n=22, 30%, nutrition students). Participants completed a 1-day WDR and entered a predefined sample meal (n=17 foods) the following day by using NutriDiary. An evaluation questionnaire was answered from which the system usability scale (SUS) score (0-100) was calculated. A backward selection procedure (PROC REG in SAS; SAS Institute) was used to identify potential predictors for the SUS score (age, sex, status [expert or laypersons], and operating system [iOS or Android]). Results: The median SUS score of 75 (IQR 63-88) indicated good usability. Age was the only characteristic identified as a potential predictor for a lower SUS score (P<.001). The median completion time for an individual WDR was 35 (IQR 19-52) minutes. Older participants took longer to enter the data than younger ones (18-30 y: median 1.5, IQR 1.1-2.0 min/item vs 45-64 y: median 1.8, IQR 1.3-2.3 min/item). Most participants expressed a preference for NutriDiary over the traditional paper-based method. Conclusions: Good usability and acceptability make NutriDiary promising for use in epidemiological studies.