Development and evaluation of the nutrition component of the rapild eating and activity assessment for patients (REAP): A new tool for primary care providers

Objectives: 1. To describe the development of a dietary assessment tool (Rapid Eating and Activity Assessment for Patients [REAP]) that quickly assesses a patient's diet and physical activity and facilitates brief counselling by a primary care provider, and 2. To describe the evaluation of the REAP in terms of its reliability, validity, and ease of use by primary care providers. Design, Setting and Participants: The evaluation of REAP included: 1) an implementation feasibility study conducted with 61 medical students and practicing physicians in practice settings at various medical schools; 2) a calibration study with 44 Brown University Medical School students; 3) cognitive assessment testing with 31 consumers in Rhode Island; and 4) a reliability and calibration study of the revised toot with 94 consumers in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Results: The feasibility study revealed moderately high rankings on usefulness, ease, practicality, and helpfulness. The calibration studies demonstrated that REAP has excellent test-retest reliability (T = 0.86, P <.0001), is correlated with the Healthy Eating Index score (r = 0.49, P =.0007), and is significantly associated with intake of most nutrients studied. Conclusions and implications: REAP has adequate reliability and validity to be used in primary care practices for nutrition assessment and counselling, and is also user-friendly for providers.