Effect of Demographic Characteristics and Personality Traits on Eating Patterns in the Context of Dietary Intervention: The EATMED Case Study

Michele Ricci, Andrea Devecchi (), Riccardo Migliavada, Maria Piochi and Luisa Torri
Additional contact information
Michele Ricci: University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo, 12042 Bra, CN, Italy
Andrea Devecchi: University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo, 12042 Bra, CN, Italy
Riccardo Migliavada: University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo, 12042 Bra, CN, Italy
Maria Piochi: University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo, 12042 Bra, CN, Italy
Luisa Torri: University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo, 12042 Bra, CN, Italy

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: There is a confirmed and ongoing need to encourage adherence to healthy dietary patterns in the general population in western societies, given their recognized positive impact in preventing non-communicable diseases (NCDs). A potentially very effective solution is the use of digital tools such as apps and web apps, which can reach a large number of people quickly. Still, to be effective, it is necessary to better understand how participant engagement in these interventions works, to identify the motivations that may lead them to drop out, and to evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions. In our study, an innovative web app designed to encourage adherence to the Mediterranean diet (EATMED) was tested in an intervention study, evaluating adherence to the Mediterranean diet before and after the use of the web app in a cohort of people, compared to a control group, using the MEDI-lite questionnaire. The Health and Taste Attitude Scale questionnaire was also administered to all participants to assess interest in healthy foods and diets, as well as attitudes toward food. The study showed that the score of the Food as Reward subscale of the HTAS had a significant effect on dropout from the intervention study, and that the use of the app among participants who remained resulted in a two-point increase in adherence to the Mediterranean diet, according to the MEDI-lite questionnaire. These results indicate the effectiveness of the EATMED tool and provide useful insights into how to understand and mitigate dropout in digital nutrition interventions.

Keywords: Mediterranean diet; digital dietary intervention; attrition analysis; HTAS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/7/1095/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/7/1095/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:7:p:1095-:d:1698824

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().