(OR09-06-23) Design and User-Testing of the NCI’s Healthy Eating Index Report

Objectives: The Healthy Eating Index (HEI) is a measure of diet quality, independent of quantity, that assesses alignment with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The HEI has been used in multiple research contexts (e.g. nutrition surveillance; epidemiology and health outcomes research; policy and intervention evaluation) and across multiple levels of the food stream (e.g. national food supply; community food environment; individual food intakes). To further extend its application to individuals, a HEI Report was developed to provide personalized feedback on how reported intake compares to dietary guidance. The objective of this study is to conduct usability testing on the new HEI Report and to modify the report based on findings.

Methods: A five-page report was developed and underwent two rounds of user-testing research. User-testing involved eye-tracking, qualitative interviews, and self-report satisfaction scales. Eye-tracking data were aggregated to form heat maps. Qualitative interview data were analyzed to identify themes then grouped into required changes, high priority changes, and low priority changes.

Results: Analysis of eye-tracking and qualitative interview data demonstrated that participants understood and liked the concept of a HEI Report. Eye-tracking heat maps demonstrated participants viewed all sections of the report but spent more time reading about changes they “should make” to their diets (141 fixations) than where they were already “doing great” (66 fixations). Participants generally completed timed tasks correctly and succeeded in locating nutrition information in the report. The report was iteratively modified based on design recommendations from qualitative interview data. The report will be released in English and Spanish as a new return of results feature of the NCI’s Diet History Questionnaire, a free and publicly available web-based food frequency questionnaire. Future planned studies will evaluate the report in various populations.

Conclusions: The new HEI Report was designed, user-tested, translated, and incorporated into the NCI’s Diet History Questionnaire. Researchers can use the DHQ to collect dietary data and generate a personalized HEI Report for each study participant, providing an opportunity for tailored nutrition counseling.

Funding Sources: None