Enhancing nutrition education resources through the development and refinement of a checklist using the suitability assessment of materials (SAM)

BackgroundEvidence-based nutrition education resources are one way to help registered dietitians (RDs) translate scientific knowledge to consumers.AimTo develop a checklist based on suitability assessment of materials (SAM) and to assess its use to refine nutrition education resources.MethodsRDs were recruited online to assess two nutrition education resources using SAM. Three rounds of surveying and two rounds of resource refinements occurred. A "checklist" was created to refine the resources between rounds. Descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests were performed to explore differences in SAM-scores between rounds.ResultsRDs participated in the first (<i>n</i> = 45), second (<i>n</i> = 37), and third (<i>n</i> = 27) surveys. SAM-scores significantly improved in both resources by the third round. The refined checklist included more explicit instructions and provided examples to help guide resource changes.ConclusionsUsing the checklist improved SAM scores. Future work should include end-users to help with checklist validation.