Evaluating the Validity and Feasibility of a Smartwatch-based Eating Detection System to Passively and Automatically Detect Eating Events in Child-parent Dyads

This study will test the validity and feasibility of an smartwatch-based system to detect eating and drinking events in both laboratory and free-living conditions.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Eating Behavior
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Smartwatch and EMA-based eating behavior tracking

Detailed Description

The study will: 1) determine whether the smartwatch-based system accurately detects eating events in child-parent dyads in controlled settings and 2) evaluate the feasibility and practicality of passively detecting eating events in child-parent dyads over 3 days in free-living settings. The study will include two phases. During the laboratory visit, child-parent dyads will wear the smartwatch on their dominant hand and perform activities including eating gestures. These activities will be recorded with a video camera, and the videos will be coded for the ground truth times of eating. In the second phase of the study, child-parent dyads will continue wearing the smartwatch for 3 more days in free-living conditions. In the free-living period, parents will receive personalized Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) prompts reminding them to activate the smartwatch.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 35

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Hanim E Diktas, PhD; Phone Number: (225) 763-2832; Email: hanim.diktas@pbrc.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Louisiana
    • Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, 70808
      • Recruiting
      • Pennington Biomedical Research Center
      • Contact: Hanim E Diktas, PhD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

A sample of 35 dyads (35 parents and their 8-12 years old children) will be recruited from the Baton Rouge, LA area.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Parents or caregivers (18-70 years) who have children aged 8-12 years
• Child is willing and able to wear smartwatch during school hours (have not restrictions in the school setting)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Any condition or circumstance that could impede study completion
• Child does not follow a regular eating pattern
• Child eats less than 1 meal and 1 snack in a day
• Child is restricted or allergic to the study foods
• Refusal or unable to use the smartwatch to collect data for the 3-day period in free - living conditions
• Parental refusal or unable to respond Ecological Momentary Assessment prompts

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Accuracy and Performance of Smartwatch-based Eating Detection System in Controlled Conditions	Accuracy and performance of smartwatch-based system for detecting eating and drinking events compared to video-coded ground truth during a controlled laboratory conditions. Metrics include: Precision (proportion of correctly detected eating events among all detected events), Recall/Sensitivity (proportion of actual eating events detected), Specificity (proportion of non-eating events correctly identified as non-eating) F1-score (harmonic mean of precision and recall), Overall accuracy (proportion of correct classification).	During the controlled laboratory session (Day 1).
Adherence to Smartwatch Protocol	Proportion of families meeting adherence criteria, defined as both parent and child wearing the smartwatch during eating on at least 2 of 3 days and the parent responding to ≥75% of EMA prompts related to smartwatch charging and app functionality.	During the free-living phase (Days 2-4).

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Pennington Biomedical Research Center
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Hanim E Diktas, PhD, Pennington Biomedical Research Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): May 5, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): November 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 6, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 6, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): December 18, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 7, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 5, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Behavior, Animal; Feeding Behavior
• Other Study ID Numbers: PBRC 2025-029

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No