Observation of family mealtime: Association between parent and child eating behaviour

Authors: Celeste C. Bouchaud, Jean-Philippe Gouin, Eli Puterman, Tamara R. Cohen

Funding: R. Howard Webster Foundation

Children’s dietary patterns and behaviours are affected by their food environments, mainly built by their parents. Parental eating behaviour and feeding styles have been shown to impact children’s eating self-regulation. More data is needed on how parental eating behaviours and feeding practices affect their children’s eating behaviours. This cross-sectional study will recruit 300-400 parents of children between 5 and 11 and will examine concordance between parental eating behaviours, feeding styles, intuitive eating levels and child eating behaviours. This study will allow learn more on what to include in dietary behaviour change interventions.

Dyadic Approach to Active Living and Eating Healthy: The DATE Study

Authors: Emily Giroux, Alexandra Jahno, Sébastien Grenier, Mylène Aubertin-Leheudre, Bärbel Knäuper, Lisa Kakinami, Tamara Cohen, Jean-Philippe Gouin

Funding sources: CRC, R. Howard Webster Foundation, Institut de Gériatrie de Montréal

In older adults, excess weight is associated with increased risk of multiple medical complications. Lifestyle interventions targeting diet and physical activity are the first line treatment of obesity but current weight loss interventions lack long term efficacy. The goal of this project is to create a dyadic couple-based lifestyle intervention and to test its acceptability and feasibility as well as to gather preliminary as to its efficacy, compared to a standard nutrition counselling intervention. Participants are older adult couples between 50 and 75 living with obesity. Two 16-week interventions are currently being run to compare the dyadic intervention to a standard nutrition intervention.

Evaluation of a plate-based diet self-monitoring tool in older adults

Authors: Celeste C. Bouchaud, Justine Chriqui, May Slim, Hugues Plourde, Jean-Philippe Gouin, Tamara R. Cohen

Funding: R. Howard Webster Foundation

Diet self-monitoring is a key dietary change technique; however, current diet self-monitoring tools are difficult to use. With the release of the new Canada’s Food Guide in 2019, new simple diet self-monitoring tools are needed. The goal of this project was to create and test a paper tool based on the 2019 CFG (Plate) in a group of older adults compared to a traditional food journal (Journal). A cross-over design was used, older adults tested each tool for one week then participated in a semi-structured interview. Thematic analysis revealed that, despite some barriers, the Plate tool has a higher potential to facilitate dietary changes over time. Future studies will examine the Plate tool’s efficacy at eliciting dietary behaviour change.

Development of a New Dietary Self-Monitoring Smartphone App Resembling the 2019 Canada’s Food Guide: The iCANPlate Study

Authors: Maryam Kheirmand, Tamara R. Cohen

Funding Sources: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

This project focuses on developing a new dietary self-monitoring app called iCANPlate to reflect new messages of “the plate” as shown in the guide. The 2019 Canada’s Food Guide focuses on reinforcing healthy eating recommendations. It emphasizes on proportions of the plate rather than numbers of portions and serving sizes. As part of our qualitative research, we will conduct focus groups with both the general public and Registered Dietitians to explore their perceptions of the new app. After developing iCANPlate cognitive interviews with individuals with low levels of health literacy will help to refine that app to make it accessible with a diverse population.

Concordance of dietary behaviours between parents and children: A cross sectional study

Authors: Celeste C. Bouchaud, Hugues Plourde, Tamara R. Cohen

Funding: R. Howard Webster Foundation (at the PERFORM Centre)

This mixed methods study aims to measure eating behaviours in parents and children and levels of intuitive eating in parents and assess how these impact mealtime discussions during at-home meals with children aged 5 to 11 years old. Families videotape themselves eating dinner four times and parents fill out questionnaires for the researchers to examine concordance in dietary behaviours. Video and audio recorded data will be analysed using qualitative methods. This study will allow us to learn more about fostering positive eating behaviours and mealtime conversations in families.

Examining the effectiveness of promotional nudges for plant-based food choices in two post-secondary education dining halls: a pilot study

Jennifer Joy Anderson, Andy Bains, Julie Stachiw, Tamara Paetsch, Tamara R. Cohen

Funding Sources: Health Canada, UBC

This project aimed to increase the consumption of plant-based foods, defined as vegetarian or vegan food items, in UBC’s Gather Dining Hall and the UBCO’s Pritchard Dining Hall (PDH). This initiative implemented several low-cost, evidence-based behavioural nudges designed to encourage the selection of plant-based food items. Nudges were piloted for the last six weeks of term two. The study looks at sales data and surveys (staff, taste, and pre-and-post) to capture changes in meal selection and overall attitudes towards plant-based dining. We are working on having the results available soon. The work aims to inform which nudges were feasible and effective in these post-secondary dining halls so that others can learn and incorporate them. The study also adds to the growing literature of using behavioural economics to increase university students’ selection of healthier options.