The previous section gave a general overview of dietary
assessment methods for the general population. But what about special
populations? This section will target some of the most numerous special
populations for dietary assessments.
Respondents Unable
to Respond
There are several instances that individuals are unable to
respond or report about their diets, such as:
·
Special needs individuals
·
Individuals who are too ill or die during the
research study
In these cases, researchers usually look to a person close
to the individual who can report about the participant’s diet. The caregivers of
special needs individuals are also a good choice for completing dietary
assessments. These first two categories are fairly obvious as to who is the best
person to interact with the research team. But what about someone who is ill or
passes away during a research study? If the illness or death was sudden, the
individual may not have someone close to them to complete the assessment. When
faced in this situation, if the individual is an adult, look to the spouse or
adult child to complete the diet record. Data collection will be more accurate
if the individual has shared many meals with the participant.
Ethnic Groups
Ethnic groups are considered a special population because
food choices and cooking techniques may not be conventional. It is extremely
helpful to have members of a research team of the same ethnic background as
those individuals being studied. This is not always possible but should be a
goal of a researcher. Additionally, a researcher should examine the nutrient
composition database to determine whether ethnic foods are included with the
appropriate preparation methods for the targeted ethnic population. Many members
of ethnic populations eat foods considered ethnic and also foods considered
mainstays of the “American diet”.
Children and
Adolescents
Although very important in research studies, assessing the
diet of children and adolescents is much more difficult than with adults.
Children’s diets tend to be highly variable, making collecting data of a
“typical day” almost impossible. Parents of infants and small children are the
obvious choice for reporting dietary intake of their children. Once children are
older, they are able to recall what they ate in the previous day, but children
are not able to accurately estimate portion sizes. Adolescents are more able to
report, but may be less interested in giving accurate reports. Food frequency
questionnaires have been specifically developed for child and adolescent
populations. Generally the accuracy of dietary assessments is lower in child and
adolescent populations than the adult population.
Elderly
Elderly populations can present problems for dietary
assessments, but not for all elderly individuals. Some elderly individuals are
healthy, active and seem much younger than their age. These individuals can be
evaluated with the regular adult dietary assessment tools. If an individual is
having memory problems, then the use of 24-hour dietary recall and food
frequency questionnaires are inappropriate. Self-administrated assessments may
be inappropriate if disabilities such as poor vision are present. Direct
observation in institutional care facilities provide quality data, although the
costs associated are much higher than other methods. Although diet assessment
can be challenging in the elderly and data collection techniques individualized
to the participant, research suggests that dietary information collected from
the elderly is comparable to that collected from younger adults.