A Scoping Review on the Use of Parent-Child Joint Recalls Among School-Aged Children (6–11 Years)

Background

Dietary-intake assessment among children is challenging due to developmental and cognitive immaturity hence, dietary recall is the preferred tool for use with school-aged children. National surveys usually use consensus or parent-child “joint recalls” among school-aged children. To advance the field of dietary assessment, and evaluate the effectiveness of nutrition education, there is a need to understand how joint recalls are reported in the literature.

Objective

To conduct a scoping review concerning the use of parent-child joint dietary recalls among children and the justifications/rationales provided to support their use.

Study Design, Settings, Participants

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Review checklist was used.

Measurable Outcome/Analysis

Five databases were searched (PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Dietary Assessment Calibration/Validation Register) to identify articles on dietary intake assessment among children aged 6–11. All peer-reviewed studies published in English were eligible except for reviews, meta-analyses, conference abstracts, letters, guidelines, comments, editorials, and case studies/reports.

Results

Of the 5,868 articles identified, 3,652 were excluded based on title and abstract. Of the 2,216 articles that underwent full-text review, 1,415 were excluded (mean age outside >6 and ≤12, no joint recall, no diet recall, not English, duplicate publication, not research study, non-human study, other). Of the 801 articles remaining, 306 were unclear (lacked diet recall details), and 495 met inclusion criteria (with 210 national surveys, 225 cross-sectional studies, 36 cohort studies, 15 randomized controlled trials, and 9 case-control studies). Of these 495, 388 used joint recalls. Preliminary results showed that most (74%) did not cite a validation study to support using joint recalls.

Conclusions

Overall, 38% of 801 articles lacked diet recall details, and 74% of 801 articles failed to cite a reference to support using joint recalls. Results highlight a crucial gap in how the literature describes dietary recalls with school-aged children. Author guidelines to provide details concerning dietary recalls among school-aged children are needed to ensure consistency and improve diet-related nutrition research.

Funding

None