Objective: The XLS form for conducting 24h dietary recall interviews by using the Open Data Kit (ODK, https://docs.getodk.org/) application on mobile device is designed for resource poor settings to effectively collect dietary intake data and to analyse it with Dietary and Safety Assessment Tool (DASAT, https://dasat.2.rahtiapp.fi/). It can be used in small or large projects, at local, regional and national level to collect accurate and timely data on dietary patterns for monitoring purposes or for assessing effectiveness of implemented programs over time. The current version of this form is designed for Kenya and Mozambique, but can be also adapted to other countries. We recommend using this form with the Ona server (https://ona.io/home/).

 Please see the following videos:

Introduction to DASAT

24h dietary recalls using ODK

https://www.helsinki.fi/fi/unitube/video/714beb41-2ca4-468c-91c1-2e2b15b7db87

The alpha-version of this form was developed in InnoFoodAfrica project (Horizon 2020 Grant agreement ID: 862170), and the current version and DASAT in the FoodLeader project funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Finland. 

Challenge addressed: Traditionally, dietary assessment at population-level is done in national surveys using the 24h dietary recall interview method, that is recorded on paper. Later on the interviews are retyped to electronic format and calculations for food and nutrient intakes done using a program that normally requires a license. This process is laborious and costly, thus there is a clear need for open-source tools that can leverage collecting dietary data in resource poor settings.

Opportunity and purpose: With the Dietary and Food Safety Assessment Tool (DASAT) - of what this XLS form is part of - it possible to significantly reduce the time spend on data clearance and food and nutrient calculations. The tool has been successfully tested in a survey of 800 mothers and small children (aged 6-23 months) in Kenya in 2021, and in Kenya and Mozambique in a School-based survey among 330 pupils aged 9-13 years of age in 2025. During the data collection, data clearance and calculations were done on daily basis, and the food and nutrient intakes were ready for further analyses only two weeks after the data collection ended. Currently, the tool uses Kenyan food composition tables complemented with selected foods from the Mozambican composition table in excel form. The food and nutrient intake calculations are also using recipes from the Kenyan Recipe book (https://openknowledge.fao.org/items/f2f714fc-93d2-40f9-a29f-0a85438b66dc) and Mozambican recipes collected in the ZANE study (https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/projects/zane-study-estudo-do-estado-nutricional-e-da-dieta-em-raparigas-a/publications/). For portion size estimation, the tool includes the use of Photographic Food Atlas for Kenyans that has been validated among Kenyan women in reproductive age. The Atlas is freely available online at https://kenfinedura.com/research/367-2/. For Mozambique, the tool includes photogrpahs from the Mozambican Food Atlas developed for the FoodLeader Survey (https://www.helsinki.fi/en/projects/empowering-tomorrows-food-security-leaders/about-foodleader)

The tool can be adopted in other countries than Kenya and Mozambique with some prerequisites. the local food composition tables/database that contains the information of energy and nutrient contents of foods and dishes needs to be at a certain level of completeness. Second, there needs to be a standard tool for portion size estimation that can be used in the field work effectively, such as a collection of portion size pictures of most commonly used foods.

Technological considerations: In the core of this digital dietary assessment tool is Open Data Kit (ODK) platform which is a freely available application that runs on mobile devices (https://docs.getodk.org/getting-started/). In addition of being free of charge, ODK can be used to collect data offline. To record data from 24h dietary recall interview on ODK, the interview structure was built in an XLSForm standard that is used by the ODK ecosystem. The XLSForm for 24h dietary recall is provided here. The XLSForm can be uploaded to a cloud service, such as ONA (www.ona.io) in order to connect it with the ODK collection application on a mobile device. 

The form can be tailored for study purposes to some extent. We strongly recommend to consult the developers before modifying the form. Also, please familiarize yourself with the principles of ODK and form development before using the form.

In general, you may add new questions to the beginning or delete following items if you do not need them:

• collection_date = date of data collection
• interview_day = what week day the interview concerns
• in_school = was the child in school in the previous day
• ate_school = did the child eat school meal
• first_name_child
• family_name_child
• hhcode2 = second recording of the participant identification code

However, are required items that cannot be removed. Also, the following variables in the beginning of the form cannot be changed or removed:

• username = username for the ONA server (automatically recorded)
• deviceid = id of the device that was used in the interview (automatically recorded)
• hhcode = participant identification code
• interview_number = the number of the interview for the participant, for example, number 1 is the first interview, number 2 would be the second interview.

The form includes notes of which content can be modified according to study needs. Also different language versions can be added or changed.

Beyond the notes, the other items placed within the 24h recall interview (pass 1, pass 2 and pass 3) cannot be removed or variable names changed. For some variables, the answer options can be modified in the 'Choises' sheet. For example, for mealtypes or for the consumption times the options can be modified. Also, in case you use a local food portion size pictures or want to include local foods, these can be added / changed in the Choises sheet.

After the data has been collected using ODK, the data can be sent to the cloud service and downloaded from there. Next, data clearance and food and nutrient calculations can be done using the DASAT Webapp (https://dasat.2.rahtiapp.fi/). Training materials for using the app are provided in the app.

Contact information

For assistance in getting to use the tool, please contact Dr. Noora Kanerva

Email: noora.kanerva@helsinki.fi

Address: University of Helsinki| Department of Food and Nutrition, P.O. Box 66 (Agnes Sjöberginkatu 2)| FIN-00014 University of Helsinki