Abstract
Obesity is a major health concern caused by unhealthy eating behaviors. Digital weight loss interventions have adopted mobile technology primarily in order to support self-monitoring. However, many available apps are not designed as a part of dietetic practice; therefore, a distinct gap in the research exists relating to technology that supports the patient-practitioner relationship. This paper presents myPace, which is a complete weight loss and management system that is deployed via a smartphone and a PC. It connects dietitians and patients between face-to-face consultations and extends the relationship through patients' regular progress updates and dietitians' tailored and timely advice, for sustained behavior change. The prototype was developed from research into behavior change for weight loss, which furthermore was underpinned by theory and tenets of human support models, such as the supportive accountability framework. We report on an early-phase system design goals via a formative research process, which aimed to implement theoretical principles and match practical dietetic practice. To that end, only the clinical end user's perspective was sought through a coaching think-aloud protocol on the first iteration of the prototype and interviews with dietitians. Findings show that the system has many positive design features, but which require further development in order for the system to be fully acceptable within dietetic practice and motivate patient engagement.
Highlights
L IFESYTLE management apps form one of the largest segments of the mobile app market. They contribute to the exponential increase in digital interventions to support weight loss that range from websites that provide information to downloadable or internet-based software that help users manage their energy balance and stay motivated, to more recent weight loss apps on mobile phones
The flexibility of the system was appealing to all the dietitians, and two of them mentioned that they would be able to use it to treat clients with other problems besides weight loss, such as clients who need to gain weight, clients who need to stabilize their weight, as well as clients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
A print function for the program to provide a record of the session as a handout to patients and the option for data to be shared across apps such as physical activity apps, food diaries, body composition, diabetes monitors, etc
Summary
L IFESYTLE management apps form one of the largest segments of the mobile app market. It is necessary to consider how to make this design more accessible, useful, and usable to dietitians across Europe, and to explore how the tenets of behavior change can best be translated into digital applications in general and into myPace in particular This is vital in order to develop technology that matches and is relevant to dietetic requirements and the routine practices of the dietitian–patient consultation. The development of myPace recognized the need to embed existing and emerging perspectives in behavior change theory and build on existing frameworks and design methodologies for creating persuasive technologies. Most it sought to capture and embed the experience and benefits of the patient–practitioner relationship. Given that weight loss interventions are traditionally a cooperative undertaking, a key imperative is to translate such new perspectives into successful weight management technologies, while addressing the practitioner’s perspective and the various types of clinical practice [8]
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