SAlBi educa: A promising tailored nutrition app to promote healthy eating habits (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Mobile applications are one of the fastest growing technology fields in recent years. The rise of smartphones and the special concern about food in the population, as well as the increase in overweight and obesity and their association with non-communicable diseases, makes it necessary to combine both technology and nutrition disciplines to promote healthy eating patterns. OBJECTIVE The main objective of this study was to design and develop a tailored nutrition application to promote healthy eating habits as a tool to support the primary care Dietetic Counselling Program. Additionally, usability study was also performed. METHODS Three focus groups were conducted with 15 primary health care professionals (Family Doctors, Nurses and Public Health and Health Promotion Technicians), Professors and Lectures of Nutrition and Food, expert users (students of the Pharmacy Degree) and Telecommunications Engineers to decide the app design and content. Additionally, for the general and feedback message design a reference model was developed bases in the scientific literature. To evaluate the relevance potential usability, acceptability, credibility, and comprehensibility of the information and interface of the app a pilot testing in a real-life environment with potential users and Health Care Professionals was carried out in four focus groups organized in four different primary health care centers. Participants included forty-two Health Professionals and users. RESULTS The SAlBi educa app developed includes an online dietary record, a self-monitoring tool to evaluate dietary patterns, general and feedback messages and traditional Mediterranean recipe examples. The reference message model included the following characteristics: length of approximately 160 characters, frequency of 1-4 messages/week, simple tone y language, personalized with the user's name and empathic to allow user empowering. More than 60 general and 65 feedback messages were designed following this model. Usability study showed that 91.7% of the participants find SAlBi educa stimulating and easy to use (87.1% of volunteers). It is worth noting that 92.3% of volunteers stated that both general and tailored nutrition messages are clear, useful (100%), relevant (97.4%) and the 86.1% agree that they have the potential to persuade people to improve their diet and physical activity. A total of 95.0% of participants would use SAlBi educa in the future and recommend. CONCLUSIONS SAlBi educa is an innovative nutritional education tool developed based on scientific evidence that has the potential to become an effective solution for supporting Nutrition Counseling in primary health care.