Women's Perceptions of Usefulness and Ease of Use of Four Healthy Eating Blog Characteristics: A Qualitative Study of 33 French-Canadian Women.

BACKGROUND: Healthy eating blogs are knowledge translation tools used by nutrition and dietetics practitioners for helping people improve their health behaviors and food choices.

OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to explore women's perceptions of the usefulness and ease of use of healthy eating blog (HEB) characteristics that might increase potential users' intention to use them as tools to improve their dietary habits.

DESIGN: We conducted qualitative research using semi-structured individual interviews.

PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-three women (mean age of 44 years; range=27 to 61 years) living in the Quebec City, Canada, metropolitan area were studied.

INTERVENTION: Four existing HEBs, written by French-Canadian registered dietitians (RDs) whose main objective was the promotion of a healthy diet, were explored by women during individual interviews. A standardized open-ended interview questionnaire based on the Technology Acceptance Model was used to identify women's perceptions about characteristics of type of blog content delivery, RD blogger's delivery of information, blog layout, and blog design.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Women's perceptions toward the contribution of HEB characteristics to the usefulness and ease of use of those tools to improve their dietary habits were measured.

ANALYSES PERFORMED: Interviews were audiorecorded, transcribed verbatim, coded, and analyzed through an inductive content analysis using NVivo software.

RESULTS: The most useful characteristics of type of blog content delivery identified by women were recipes, hyperlinks, and references. Among characteristics of RD blogger's delivery of information, most women reported that interaction between blog readers and the RD blogger created a sense of proximity and of connection that was helpful for improving their dietary behaviors. Women's perceptions toward various characteristics of blog layout and design were also discussed.

CONCLUSIONS: Incorporating specific characteristics when designing HEBs should be considered by RDs and future research to promote the use of those tools to support dietary behavior change efforts of internet users.