This study sought to examine the acceptability of “Nutrition and Diet” (N&D) apps by Medical Doctors (MDs) and nurses, explore their preferences on apps’ features and identify predictors of acceptance.
A 23 questions survey, which requires 15 minutes to be completed, was developed by an interdisciplinary team (dietitian, computer scientists, AI experts, MD, pharmacist, psychologist) and pilot-tested. It includes questions on demographic characteristics, adoption of “N&D” apps in assessing and tracking individuals’ dietary intake, criteria for selecting an app, and important features of future apps. After pilot-testing, the survey was launched.
So far, 94 MDs and nurses (64 female/29 male/1 no answer; mean age (SD): 45(10) years; 46% Android/53% iOS/1% no answer; 79% see people living with diabetes), from 30 countries and 6 continents completed the survey. The majority (84%) do assess their patients’ intake. However, only 36% recommend “N&D” apps, and even fewer (17%) endorse them for dietary assessment purposes. From those who have not yet recommended an app, 28% do not know their existence. The most important criteria for selecting an app are to be easy to use (84%), costless (76%) and validated/certified (69%). Noteworthy criteria also include the support of automatic food image-based logging (60%) and automatic nutrient estimation (48%). The most significant barriers are lack of local food composition database support (47%) and no personalization (language/units) (44%).
Several issues need to be addressed before MDs and nurses integrate the recommendation of “N&D” apps to the dietary assessment of their clinical practice.