Smartphone App Can Combat Childhood Obesity - Len Saunders

From News Medical?..

To combat the ongoing epidemic of childhood obesity, two Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing students, Janna Stephens, RN, BSN, and Michelle Brei, APRN, CPNP, are using smartphones and websites to engage and invite young audiences.

Stephens, a PhD student, is reaching out through a smartphone app that provides tips for healthy food and physical activity. The app also allows users to interact through Facebook and Twitter as well, helping them view losing weight as a more fun and positive experience.

?To engage this population in studies about weight loss, the intervention needs to be something that will stimulate them and [be] something they want to do,? Stephens said. ?Adolescents spend hours on their smartphones and use applications to do just about everything. So why not weight loss? The use of smartphone applications to aid in weight loss gives adolescents the power to monitor their intake instantly and to gain real-time feedback related to eating and exercise behaviors.?

She?ll recruit overweight and obese adolescents from Baltimore City and place them into groups at random. Some of the adolescents will use the app to help with weight loss and some will not.

Brei, a doctor of nursing practice student, is developing an interactive website for adolescents at Yale Health in order to reduce pediatric obesity. Her motivation for creating this platform stems from what she witnesses regularly.

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Source: http://www.lensaunders.com/wp/?p=3176

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