Design and evaluation of the “Feel Good” feasibility study – a multi-component fruit and vegetable intervention in children measuring cognitive and mental health outcomes

Table 3 Overview of diet, cognitive, and mental health measures utilised in the Feel Good Study

Outcome	Participant	Measurement tool
Baseline data collection^a
Health and demographics	Parent	Purpose-designed survey
School environment	Teacher	Purpose-designed survey
Child’s diet
FV, beverage, and snack intake	Children	Components from the NZ children’s FFQ [33]
FV acceptance	Children	5-point hedonic facial scale [23]
Willingness to try FV	Children	Yes/no question item [23]
Diet quality	Parent	DICE questionnaire [34]
Food neophobia	Parent	Food neophobia scale [35]
Skin carotenoids^b	Children	Veggie Meter® [36]
Child’s mental health
Positive Affect	Children	PROMIS positive affect scale [37]
Behaviour	Parent	Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire [38]
Child’s cognitive function^c
Executive function	Children	NIH toolbox – Flanker test
Processing speed	Children	NIH toolbox – Pattern comparison test
Language	Children	NIH toolbox – Picture vocabulary test

All tools except for purpose-designed surveys have been validated for use in children of this age group, or have been adapted from those used previously in similar research in this age group (FV intake, FV acceptance, willingness to try FV)
Abbreviations: DICE Dietary Index of a Child’s Eating, FFQ food frequency questionnaire, FV fruit and vegetable
^aAll other measures were collected at baseline and the 10-week follow-up
^bThe Veggie Meter® is a non-invasive, painless fingertip device used to measure skin carotenoid levels
^cCompleted with two students at a time in a quiet room, which took approximately 15-minutes to complete on an iPad

ISSN: 1475-2891