NoObesity Apps – From Approach to Finished App

Abstract

Obesity is still a growing public health problem in the UK and many healthcare workers find it challenging to have a discussion with service users about this sensitive topic. They also feel they are not competent to provide the relevant heath advice and are seeking easily accessible, evidence-based, mobile health learning (mHealth). mHealth applications (apps) such as the Professional NoObesity and Family NoObesity (due for release late 2018), have been designed to: support families with making sustainable positive behaviour changes to their health and well-being, ease pressure on practitioners’ overweight and obesity care related workloads, as well as to support the education of professionals, students and service users. This paper describes the process of designing the apps from the inception of the idea, through the stages of research, app builds and testing. The processes of collaborative working to design and develop the apps to meet the needs of both service users and health professionals will also be reflected upon. Childhood obesity is an complex problem and whilst it is recognised that the NoObesity apps cannot singlehandedly resolve this health crisis, it is proposed that they can support families to identify and reduce the barriers that prevent them from living healthier, happier lives.

Appendices

Appendix A

Research questions asked of service users (all included a space to expand on responses)

• 1. What are your views on childhood overweight and obesity? Please share any personal experience or anecdotes.

• 2. Have you, your child, or a child you know ever had healthcare advice related to them being overweight?

• 3. If you or your child were given advice about lifestyle to help reduce weight, did you find this a positive or negative experience?

• 4. If a healthcare worker gives you advice about yours or your child’s weight, do you understand what they mean?

• 5. Do you feel you can ask questions when a healthcare worker gives you weight advice for you or your child?

• 6. Do you know what questions you want to ask when a healthcare worker gives you weight advice for you or your child?

• 7. How do you prefer to be given advice by healthcare workers about your or your child’s weight?

• 8. What can healthcare workers do to help make the experience of being given weight advice more useful for you and your child?

• 9. Do you feel you are aware of the difference between child and adult portion sizes?

• 10. Please describe a typical breakfast, lunch and supper your child (or the child you wish to discuss) eats including how much of each food they have (for example, how many slices of bread used for sandwich, which and how many fruit and veg, types of meat or meat substitute, dairy, sweets, crisps, ready-made or fast foods, drinks).

• 11. Do your children do any exercise?

• 12. Are you aware of any free exercise sessions in your local area, and if so can you name them?

• 13. What kind of lifestyle support or advice would you find useful?

• 14. Do you know of any apps/websites that support healthy lifestyles and does your family use them?

Appendix B

Research questions asked of health professionals (all included a space to expand on responses)

• 1. What setting do you work in?

• 2. What are your views on childhood obesity? Please share any personal experience or anecdotes.

• 3. Do you make infant/childhood weight part of your routine health conversation with parents/patients?

• 4. How do you support parents and children to modify challenging behaviour? What works well for you?

• 5. What are your concerns in relation to working with parent and children to provide weight and lifestyle advice?

• 6. What support/information/training do you feel you need to help you encourage patients to acknowledge and address their overweight or obesity?

• 7. What tools would help you support parents whose children are overweight or obese?

• 8. How would you rate your confidence in terms of addressing a patient’s overweight/obesity healthcare needs? Choose a description and then rank it numerically with one being the lowest and three being the highest for each description.

• 9. Please describe your positive experiences in this field of healthcare – what worked well?

• 10. Please describe your negative experiences in this field of healthcare – what made it a negative experience for you/your patient?

• 11. If your personal BMI is outside the healthy range – what strategies do you use to encourage patients to acknowledge their overweight or obesity, and to address their health needs?

• 12. Have you ever identified safeguarding as an issue related to your patients’ overweight or obesity?

  • a. Do you think it may sometimes be a linked factor?

  • b. If so, what steps did/would you take in relation to addressing this?

• 13. How confident do you feel about being able to translate your findings from the growth charts into meaningful information for the parents?

  • a. Please share any particular successes/challenges you have had with this.

• 14. What do you think an educational platform should offer in terms of functionality?

  • a. a place to ask questions

  • b. case studies

  • c. videos

  • d. multiple choice questions

  • e. test your knowledge sections

  • f. signposting section

  • g. brief interventions

  • h. longer term care options

  • i. a way to personalise the learning experience such as an avatar to walk through the learning package with or one to test out new techniques on

  • j. Please add in anything not mentioned that you would find useful or if you want to choose more than one answer above please list them numerically here (top choice is number 1)

• 15. How and when do you think you would use a learning platform designed to support you with addressing overweight/obesity in children?

  • a. one you could use during the patient consultation

  • b. one for your own learning only

  • c. Other (please specify)