IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v14y2017i2p184-d90209.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Interventions for Preventing Childhood Obesity with Smartphones and Wearable Device: A Protocol for a Non-Randomized Controlled Trial

Author

Listed:
  • Hye Jung Yang

    (Department of Family Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul 03181, Korea)

  • Jae-Heon Kang

    (Department of Family Medicine, Seoul Paik Hospital, College of Medicine, Inje University, Seoul 04551, Korea)

  • Ok Hyun Kim

    (Institute for Clinical Nutrition, Inje University, Seoul 04551, Korea)

  • Mona Choi

    (Nursing Research Institute, College of Nursing, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Korea)

  • Myungju Oh

    (Department of Family Medicine, Dae-Chung Hospital, Daejeon 35403, Korea)

  • Jihyun Nam

    (Department of Family Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul 03181, Korea)

  • Eunju Sung

    (Department of Family Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul 03181, Korea)

Abstract

Background: Childhood obesity is a critical health issue, both currently and for the foreseeable future. To prevent obesity, behavior changes are essential. Smartphones can be a good tool, as the number of child smartphone users is rapidly increasing. We have developed a mobile platform system named “HAPPY ME,” which is a smartphone application coupled with a wearable device, designed to improve healthy behaviors to prevent childhood obesity. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of obesity prevention among children 10–12 years of age using HAPPY ME. Methods: A total of 1000 participants, all fifth and sixth graders from four schools, were assigned to either control or intervention groups by school. Students in the intervention group used HAPPY ME. The study comprises a safety test, a 12-week efficacy test, and a six-month follow-up test to determine the long-term effects of preventive intervention via the integrated service platform. The integrated service platform aims to facilitate child-parent-school participation, involving the child-parent mobile application, a child-teacher mobile web, and a school website. Primary outcome measures are behavioral changes, including healthy eating, increased physical activity, and fitness. Secondary outcome measures are changes in anthropometric parameters (body weight, height, body mass index z-score, and waist circumference), body mass index (BMI) percentiles (obesity rate), and psychological perceptions among participants. Conclusions: The results of this study will offer evidence of the effectiveness of a mobile platform service with a multi-component intervention program based on a comprehensive approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Hye Jung Yang & Jae-Heon Kang & Ok Hyun Kim & Mona Choi & Myungju Oh & Jihyun Nam & Eunju Sung, 2017. "Interventions for Preventing Childhood Obesity with Smartphones and Wearable Device: A Protocol for a Non-Randomized Controlled Trial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-10, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:2:p:184-:d:90209
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/2/184/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/2/184/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:2:p:184-:d:90209. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.