The development and evaluation of a mHealth nutrition education intervention

An environmental scan of the app marketplace evaluated publicly available mHealth nutrition apps targeted to children and found that there were few high-quality evidence-based apps available to educate children on healthy eating. To fill this gap in the availability of mHealth child nutrition apps, an iterative multi-method approach was taken to develop a novel app, Foodbot Factory, to help children aged 9-12 improve their food literacy skills and nutrition knowledge. Foodbot Factory was created by an interdisciplinary team with each prototype being informed by data collected in 5 iterative user testing sessions. The app educates users on foods and nutrients, integrating behaviour change and gamification techniques to enhance engagement. Data from the most recent testing session demonstrates that students are able to gain knowledge about nutrition from Foodbot Factory and that the app is an engaging, usable, and acceptable intervention for children to learn about healthy eating and nutrition.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Health Sciences (MHSc)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Community, Public and Population Health

Grantor

University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Brown, Jacqueline M.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Arcand, JoAnne

• mHealth
• Child nutrition
• Nutrition education
• Food literacy
• Gamification

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10155/1068

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ontariotechu.scholaris.ca:10155/1068