The development and evaluation of a novel Internet-based computer program to assess previous-day dietary and physical activity behaviours in adults: the Synchronised Nutrition and Activity Program for Adults (SNAPA)

The Synchronised Nutrition and Activity Program for Adults (SNAPA^TM) was developed to address the need for accurate, reliable, feasible, inexpensive and low-burden methods for assessing specific dietary and physical activity behaviours in adults. Short-term test-retest reliability of SNAPA^TM was assessed in forty-four adults (age 41·4 (SD 17·3) years) who completed SNAPA^TM twice in 1 day. Concurrent validity against direct dietary observation and combined heart rate and accelerometry was assessed in seventy-seven adults (age 34·4 (SD11·1) years). Test-retest reliability revealed no substantial systematic shifts in mean values of the outcome variables: percentage of food energy from fat (% fat), number of portions of fruit and vegetables (FV) and minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). For lunchtime dietary intake, the mean match rate between food items reported using SNAPA^TM and those observed was 81·7 %, with a phantom rate of 5·6%. Pearson’s correlations between SNAPA^TM and the reference methods ranged from 0·27 to 0·56 for %fat, FV portions and minutes of MVPA. For %fat and FV intake, there was no fixed or proportional bias, and mean differences between the methods (SNAPA^TM - reference) were 5·1% and 0 portions, respectively. For minutes of MVPA, a fixed bias of -28 min was revealed when compared with all minutes of MVPA measured by combined heart rate and accelerometry, whereas a proportional bias (slope 1·47) was revealed when compared with minutes carried out in bouts ≥10 min. SNAPA^TM is a promising tool for measuring specific energy balance behaviours, though further work is required to improve accuracy for physical activity behaviours.

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