The use of information and communication technology devices as part of the solo eating experience

An increasing number of people tend to eat alone due to social changes and an altered attitude towards cooking and eating practices. Anecdotal reports indicate that solo diners tend to use information and communication technology devices, for example, the smartphone, as part of the eating experience. While lab studies suggest that the devices contribute to an increased high-calorie food intake and decreased feeling of satiety, these studies disregard the everyday experience and motivation of solo diners. We conducted an exploratory study to investigate how solo diners use digital devices as part of their daily eating experience. <br>We used a non-probability, convenience sample for this study. Participants were eligible to participate in the study if they were 18+ years and used an ICT device on a regular or occasional basis while eating a main meal alone. Recruitment was done by posting announcements for the study on personal and group pages on Facebook. In addition, we emailed the invitation to friends and colleagues who lived alone and we asked them to share the study invite with friends, students and colleagues. Interested participants received further information about the purpose of the study and the length of the interview by email prior to the interview. Participants provided informed written consent as part of the study. Each participant was offered 10 Euros after the completion of the interview. This study was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.<br>Eventually, twelve participants participated in the study. Ten participants agreed to have the transcripts of their interviews included as part of a public data depository. Eight of the twelve participants were female and seven lived alone. The age of the participants ranged from 25–62 (Mean 35.25 years, SD 9.6). Participants lived in Austria (n=1), Germany (n=7), the Netherlands (n=2) and New Zealand (n=2). The majority of participants was full-time employed (n=6), some were part-time (n=2) or self-employed (n=1). Interviews took place between May 2020 and August 2020 and lasted between 25–70 minutes. Interviews were conducted online in English and German depending on the participant’s preference. The interviews were transcribed in full, non-verbatim for the analysis. Data were anonymized following the Irish Qualitative Data Archive (IQDA) 'Anonymisation Guidelines' to remove any identifiable data from the data set. <br>We developed an interview guide that included questions focusing on situational factors that have been reported to influence consumer behavioUr. The semi-structured interview guide contained six open-ended demographically oriented questions, twenty-three open-ended main questions, and eight prompts that were asked if the participant’s response did not cover the topic of interest. The questions focused on the topics of (1) activity patterns and food choices during the day; (2) Covid19 effects on food and ICT use patterns; (3) their attitude towards eating alone; (4) physical and social surroundings influencing the use of ICT devices; (5) the time of day at which they tend to use devices; (6) their general and situation-specific motivations to use the devices; and (7) a potential scenario where ICT devices could contribute to healthy eating practices.We trialled the interview guide to refine the questions and added a question after the test interview due to the worldwide evolving Covid-19 situation. Interviews were conducted in the form of online video calls and audio recorded with the participant’s consent. Each participant was interviewed once.<br><br>

随着社会变迁与人们对烹饪、饮食行为态度的转变，越来越多的人倾向于独自用餐。有传闻显示，独自用餐者常将信息与通信技术（Information and Communication Technology, ICT）设备——例如智能手机——融入其用餐体验中。尽管实验室研究表明这类设备会导致受试者摄入更多高热量食物、饱腹感降低，但此类研究未考虑独自用餐者的日常用餐体验与行为动机。为此，本研究开展一项探索性研究，旨在探究独自用餐者如何将数字设备融入其日常用餐体验中。
本研究采用非概率便利抽样法。研究纳入标准为：年龄满18周岁，且在独自享用正餐时会定期或偶尔使用信息与通信技术设备。招募环节通过在Facebook个人主页及群组页面发布研究招募公告完成；此外，研究团队向独居的亲友与同事发送邮件邀请，并请其向各自的朋友、学生及同事转发该招募信息。有意参与的受试者会在访谈前通过邮件获取研究目的、访谈时长等详细信息。所有受试者均签署了书面知情同意书。每位受试者完成访谈后可获得10欧元的报酬。本研究已通过荷兰代尔夫特理工大学人类研究伦理委员会的审查批准。
最终共有12名受试者参与本研究。其中10名受试者同意将其访谈转录稿纳入公开数据存储库。12名受试者中8名为女性，7名独居。受试者年龄分布为25至62岁（平均年龄35.25岁，标准差9.6）。受试者的居住国家包括奥地利（n=1）、德国（n=7）、荷兰（n=2）及新西兰（n=2）。多数受试者为全职雇员（n=6），其余分别为兼职雇员（n=2）与个体经营者（n=1）。访谈于2020年5月至2020年8月期间开展，单场访谈时长为25至70分钟。访谈以线上形式开展，语言为英语或德语，由受试者自行选择。为便于分析，所有访谈均进行了完整的非逐字转录。本研究依据爱尔兰定性数据档案库（Irish Qualitative Data Archive, IQDA）的《匿名化指南》对数据进行匿名化处理，以移除数据集中所有可识别信息。
本研究设计了一套访谈提纲，其中涵盖了据报道会影响消费者行为的情境相关问题。该半结构化访谈提纲包含6道开放式人口统计学导向问题、23道开放式核心问题，以及8道用于补充受试者未覆盖到的感兴趣话题的提示性问题。访谈提纲聚焦以下7类主题：(1) 日间活动模式与食物选择；(2) 新冠疫情（COVID-19）对食物选择及信息与通信技术设备使用模式的影响；(3) 受试者对独自用餐的态度；(4) 影响信息与通信技术设备使用的物理与社会环境；(5) 受试者倾向于使用设备的时段；(6) 受试者使用设备的一般性与情境特异性动机；(7) 信息与通信技术设备助力健康饮食行为的潜在场景。为优化访谈提纲，研究团队预先对其进行了试测；鉴于全球范围内新冠疫情的持续演变，研究团队在试测访谈后新增了一道问题。访谈以线上视频通话形式开展，经受试者同意后进行音频录制。每位受试者仅接受一次访谈。