DietCoach: Development and Dietitian Evaluation of a Digital Dietary Counseling Platform

The DietCoach study aims to investigate the requirements of a digital dietary counseling platform, and evaluate the dietitian acceptance and usability of the DietCoach platform, which was developed based on the collected requirements. Additionally, the study examines how different levels of patient food purchase data availability affect these factors. The DietCoach platform automatically tracks historic and up-to-date patient food purchase data on loyalty cards and provides nutritional analysis, assisting dietitians in the dietary counseling process. The key research questions (RQ) are: 1. What are the requirements of a digital dietary counseling system based on food purchase data? 2. What is acceptance and usability of the DietCoach platform evaluated by dietitians? 3. How does the availability of patient food purchase data influence the acceptance and perceived usability of the DietCoach platform by dietitians? Dietitians from several cantonal hospitals in the German-speaking area of Switzerland are invited to participate in the study. To answer RQ1, we conduct a workshop and a survey with dietitians to derive key requirements on dietary counseling systems. To answer RQ2 and RQ3, we use a cross-sectional, mixed-methods, between-subjects study design. Researchers will evaluate and compare the acceptance and usability of DietCoach in 3 different conditions (3 patients that had different, i.e., high, medium and low, food purchase data availability). Each participant is assigned to the data of one patient. Participants are required to: 1. use the DietCoach platform to provide at least one dietary recommendation to patient food purchase data in two separate sessions. 2. provide quantitative and qualitative feedback about the acceptance and usability of the DietCoach platform.