Strategies to Engage Adolescents in Digital Health Interventions for Obesity Prevention and Management

Stephanie R Partridge, Julie Redfern, Stephanie R Partridge, Julie Redfern

Abstract

Obesity is one of the greatest health challenges facing today’s adolescents. Dietary interventions are the foundation of obesity prevention and management. As adolescents are digital frontrunners and early adopters of technology, digital health interventions appear the most practical modality for dietary behavior change interventions. Despite the rapid growth in digital health interventions, effective engagement with adolescents remains a pertinent issue. Key strategies for effective engagement include co-designing interventions with adolescents, personalization of interventions, and just-in-time adaptation using data from wearable devices. The aim of this paper is to appraise these strategies, which may be used to improve effective engagement and thereby improve the dietary behaviors of adolescents now and in the future.

Keywords: adolescents; diet; engagement; management; obesity; prevention.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A conceptual illustration of the interaction between the three user-centered strategies, namely, co-design, personalization, and just-in-time adaptation.

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