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.

When compared with wider social research, qualitative educational research has been relatively slow to take up online research methods (ORMs). There is some very notable research in the area but, in general, ORMs have not achieved wide applicability in qualitative educational contexts apart from research that is inherently linked to the Internet, for example, research on educational technologies or students' online behaviour. This paper demonstrates how ORMs can be useful in qualitative research projects. It describes how on-going, reflective, qualitative data were collected using a popular, community-based online tool -blogs. The research project that utilized this approach aimed to trace how a group of international students in the United Kingdom responded to their new environment over six months. This article attempts to provide a new understanding on the use of blogs as a tool for data collection.

Dietitians' perceptions about sweeteners are uncertain, ambivalent and divergent, sometimes explicitly being linked to fears about adverse health effects. Clear and authoritative guidance is required on scientific evidence around sweeteners as well as the ways in which they can be used in dietetic practice.

The field of Mobile health (mHealth), which includes mobile phone applications (apps), is growing rapidly and has the potential to transform healthcare by increasing its quality and efficiency. The present paper focuses particularly on mobile technology for body weight management, including mobile phone apps for weight loss and the available evidence on their effectiveness. Translation of behaviour change theory into weight management strategies, including integration in mobile technology is also discussed. Moreover, the paper presents and discusses the myPace platform as a case in point. There is little clinical evidence on the effectiveness of currently available mobile phone apps in enabling behaviour change and improving health-related outcomes, including sustained body weight loss. Moreover, it is unclear to what extent these apps have been developed in collaboration with health professionals, such as dietitians, and the extent to which apps draw on and operationalise behaviour change techniques has not been explored. Furthermore, presently weight management apps are not built for use as part of dietetic practice, or indeed healthcare more widely, where face-to-face engagement is fundamental for instituting the building blocks for sustained lifestyle change. myPace is an innovative mobile technology for weight management meant to be embedded into and to enhance dietetic practice. Developed out of systematic, iterative stages of engagement with dietitians and consumers, it is uniquely designed to complement and support the trusted health practitioner-patient relationship. Future mHealth technology would benefit if engagement with health professionals and/or targeted patient groups, and behaviour change theory stood as the basis for technology development. Particularly, integrating technology into routine health care practice, rather than replacing one with the other, could be the way forward.

These findings stimulated changes to the health communication program. this article identifies changes made to the communication skills program in response to cultural difference.