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May 2017 IFSN Seminar

On May 25, 2017, Dr. Susan H. Evans and Dr. Peter Clarke, University of Southern California presented “Creating a Mobile App to Boost Vegetable Consumption in Low-Income Households: Development, Field Testing, and Dissemination.” This seminar has been approved by the Commission on Dietetic Registration for 1.0 Continuing Professional Education Unit (CEU).*

This seminar is part of the Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition (IFSN) Seminar Series. These monthly seminars aim to disseminate new knowledge; engage with partners and stakeholders; and inspire the next generation of food safety and nutrition experts. For full information on the series, visit the seminar webpage.

Seminar Overview

Benefitting from years of working with food banks and their pantries to increase the supply of fresh vegetables, we built a mobile app for pantry clients that helps them use these foods in appealing and healthy ways. We will tell the story of how Quick Help for Meals was created, share results from testing it in a randomized field trial, and explain our experiments into the best means for disseminating the app.

After viewing a short demonstration of Quick Help online, participants should be able to answer these questions:

  1. Mobile apps sometimes invite users to customize the information they acquire: what are at least two of several ways that Quick Help encourages this user-choice?
  2. Few mobile apps have ever been evaluated in a randomized field trial: what are at least two findings from the testing of Quick Help?

App builders often ignore marketing and expect their apps to disseminate themselves: what groups or organizations would you partner with in order to spread downloading and effective use of Quick Help?

*Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) or Nutrition and Dietetics Technicians, Registered (NDTRs) who attend this seminar and wish to receive the CEU certificate please e-mail Mallory M. Koenings.

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