Integrating mHealth Technology in Nutrition Research and Practice: Lessons Learned and Future Directions
Date: Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Time: 12:00 - 13:00 ET (12:00pm - 1:00pm ET)
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Speakers: Holly Schaafsma, RD, MScFN, PhD(c) (Western University) and Olivia Caruso, MPH, PhD(c) (Western University)
Webinar description: Smartphones may be a particularly promising medium to deliver nutrition interventions, particularly among youth and young adults, given their near ubiquity among these populations. In this session, we will present results from both the adolescent (13 – 18 yrs) and young adult (18 – 25 yrs) SmartAPPetite studies, a food literacy intervention delivered via smartphone application (app). We will also share key lessons our team has gained since piloting the intervention in 2016. Building on these insights, we will then explore future opportunities for advancing mHealth in nutrition research, sharing the findings from our rapid review on image-based dietary evaluation methods via smartphones and presenting our team’s next steps, which include using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to understand structural and environmental influences on diet.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of the webinar participants will be able to:
- Describe how mHealth platforms like smartphones can be used in food and nutrition education
- Understand lessons learned from an mHealth food literacy intervention (SmartAPPetite) aimed at improving diet quality through increasing food and nutrition knowledge
- Explore which dietary evaluation methods are currently available to dietetic researchers and examine their validity and usability
- Discuss future uses of mHealth platforms in nutrition research including dietary evaluation and food environment analysis
Moderator: Louise McEachern, PhD (Western University)
About the Speakers:
Holly Schaafsma, RD, MScFN, PhD (c) - Holly is a Registered Dietitian (RD) and PhD candidate in the Health Promotion field within the faculty of Health Sciences at Western University. She completed both her undergraduate and master’s degree in the field of Food and Nutritional Sciences. Holly has also taught on introductory nutritional sciences and adolescent nutrition as an adjunct faculty member at Western University and Mount St. Vincent University. Her research explores predictors of adolescent and postsecondary student diet quality, behaviour change interventions, integration of mHealth technology in nutrition, and the influence of equity factors in nutrition outcomes and intervention effectiveness. Her PhD research focuses on the use of an mHealth diet intervention to improve adolescent and postsecondary student diet quality in Ontario.
Olivia Caruso, MPH, PhD (c) - Olivia Caruso is a PhD Candidate and adjunct faculty in the Department of Geography and Environment at Western University. She holds a Master of Public Health in Social and Behavioural Health Sciences from the University of Toronto and an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Health Studies and Human Geography, with a focus on Urban Geography. Her research addresses topics in health geography, healthy cities, food environments, gentrification, and the social determinants of health and equity. Specifically, her PhD research examines neighbourhood-level factors influencing food purchasing behaviours among adolescents in Ontario.
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