Development and functionality of a handheld computer program to improve fruit and vegetable intake among low-income youth

Mobile technologies hold promise for improving diet and physical activity, but little attention is given to creating programs that adolescents like and will use. This study developed a personal digital assistant (PDA) program to promote increased intake of fruits and vegetables (FV) in predominately...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health education research 2013-04, Vol.28 (2), p.249-264
Main Authors: Nollen, Nicole L., Hutcheson, Tresza, Carlson, Susan, Rapoff, Michael, Goggin, Kathy, Mayfield, Carlene, Ellerbeck, Edward
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adolescents
Advisory Committees
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Computer Software
Computers, Handheld
Cues
Diet - methods
Diet - psychology
Eating Habits
Ethnic Groups
Female
Females
Food
Fruit
Girls
Handheld computers
Handheld Devices
Health Behavior
Health Education - methods
Health Promotion
Health Promotion - methods
Health technology assessment
Healthy food
Humans
Low Income
Medical sciences
Minority Groups
Miscellaneous
Mobile Applications
Original
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Physical Activities
Prototypes
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Technology
Testing
Vegetables
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Summary:Mobile technologies hold promise for improving diet and physical activity, but little attention is given to creating programs that adolescents like and will use. This study developed a personal digital assistant (PDA) program to promote increased intake of fruits and vegetables (FV) in predominately low-income, ethnic minority girls. This study used a three-phase communityengaged process, including (i) engagement of a Student Advisory Board (SAB) to determine comfort with PDAs; (ii) early testing of Prototype I and rapid re-design by the SAB and (iii) feasibility testing of Prototype II in a new sample of girls. Phase 1 results showed that girls were comfortable with the PDA. Testing of Prototype I in Phase 2 showed that acceptability was mixed, with girls responding to 47.3% of the prompts. Girls wanted more reminders, accountability in monitoring FV, help in meeting daily goals and free music downloads based on program use. The PDA was reprogrammed and testing of Prototype II in Phase 3 demonstrated marked improvement in use (783%), increases in FV intake (1.8 ±2.6 daily servings) and good overall satisfaction. Findings suggest that mobile technology designed with the early input of youth is a promising way to improve adolescent health behaviors.
ISSN:0268-1153
1465-3648
DOI:10.1093/her/cys099