Rasch-based Tailored Goals for Nutrition Assistance Systems

Choosing adequate goals plays is central to the success of a task. With this study, we investigate tailoring the goals of a nutrition assistance system to the user's abilities according to a Rasch scale. To that end, we evaluated two versions of a mobile system that offers dietary tracking, visual feedback, and personalized recipe recommendations. The original version targets optimal nutritional behavior and focuses on the six least optimal nutrients (N=51). The adapted version targets only improved nutritional behavior compared to the status quo and thus tailors the advice to the next six achievable nutrients according to a Rasch scale (N=47). Results of the two-week study indicate that the tailored advice leads to higher success for the focused nutrients, and is perceived to be more diverse and personalized, and thus more effective.