Knowledge of Nutritional Concerns in Physically Active Females
Condition: Nutritional Deficiency
MeSH terms: Malnutrition
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine whether implementation of an educational
      tool for nutritional concerns in 18-25-year-old females who participate in sport increases
      their understanding of various nutritional concerns. By studying an educational tool geared
      towards nutritional concerns of the female athlete, clinicians can use the information to
      improve clinical practice and patient outcomes.

      Procedure: Participants will be asked to complete a previously validated survey assessing
      knowledge of nutritional concerns of female athletes: the Female Athlete Triad, Relative
      Energy Deficiency in Sport, and eating disorders. The survey will be completed immediately
      pre- and post-receipt of the educational intervention. The intervention includes education on
      the previously mentioned nutritional concerns.
    

Detailed description: 
      The current study is a quasi-experimental study consisting of one virtual session on
      Qualtrics. Eligible participants (as determined via a screening questionnaire) will use a
      link to access the questionnaire online. The questionnaire will collect information on
      participant's demographic background. Then, participants compete a 37-item survey on
      nutritional concerns and rate their confidence in each answer. Participants were given a
      score of 1 if the answer was correct, and a score of -1 if the answer was incorrect.
      Corresponding to each Knowledge question was a Likert scale for confidence (i.e. "How
      confident are you in this response?"). Response options on the Confidence options ranged from
      0 to 5, with 0 indicating "No confidence" and 5 indicating "Completely sure". The range of
      total scores for Knowledge ranged from -37 to +37 with +37 indicating greatest amount of
      knowledge. The total Confidence score was the sum of all confidence responses from each of
      the scored knowledge questions. The total number of Confidence points ranged from 0-148. A
      higher confidence score indicated greater confidence from the participant in their knowledge
      answers. Impact scores were also calculated to measure the total composite score of Knowledge
      plus Confidence to identify an increased understanding of all scores.

      Impact scores will be calculated using the same procedure as Lodge et al. (2020): "The total
      points of impact score from the questionnaire range between +37 and -37. A percentage of
      impact can be calculated using the limits -37 to +37 of the impact score (range of 74
      points). A score of 0 will have a percentage of 50%, a score of -37 will have a percentage of
      0%, and a score of +37 will have a percentage of 100%. Each question has a score range
      between +1 and -1. One point is given for the correct answer and high confidence and one
      point is subtracted for the incorrect answer and high confidence. The score of the questions
      is reduced when the respondent has lower confidence in their answer. The scale of confidence
      corresponds to the following points for impact scoring: Confidence 4 = 1 point, Confidence 3
      = 0.75 points, Confidence 2 = 0.5 points, Confidence 1 = 0.25 points, Confidence 0 = 0
      points. For example, if the answer is correct with the lowest confidence (1), it is scored as
      0.25. If the answer is incorrect with the lowest confidence (1), it is scored as -0.25. If
      the answer selected if "I don't know", or a confidence of zero (0) is selected, it is scored
      as zero. For questions of "choose all that apply" nature, each possible sub-answer is
      considered individually".1

      Then, participants will engage in a 10-minute educational intervention. The intervention will
      cover all the information regarding nutritional concerns that were tested in the survey.
      Participants will repeat the same survey to test their knowledge and confidence in
      nutritional concerns. Lastly, participants will answer 10 follow-up questions.
    

Intervention name(s): Education on Female Athlete Nutritional Concerns
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Visual and audio information presented within the Qualtrics system will cover topics on the Female Athlete Triad, Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport, and eating disorders.
Intervention model: Single Group Assignment
Intervention model description: All participants will complete the same survey and engage in the same intervention.
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Other
Keywords: Female Athlete; Sport Nutrition; Patient Education