Obesity management in children on an iOS device

Abstract

In today's developed countries, obesity is a growing concern that's become quite a burden in the US and Europe, with studies showing Malta as having the most obese adult and child males in Europe. This motivated us into trying to find a more technological solution to this problem, so we came up with the My Lifestyle App. The main objective behind the application is to make use of gamification principles so that we can teach and guide users about healthier ways and encourage them lead it. After having researching about current systems that are trying to help people with their health and nutrition, together with gamified systems, which try to engage users in performing otherwise tedious tasks, we were able to develop a design that we could implement. The application would allow users to track their overall progress and it instructs them on how to proceed, also giving them tips and facts about improving their lifestyle. We try to apply gamification techniques like having a sense of competition between friends and giving rewards and feedback so that tasks like exercise are more fun and engaging. The application also challenges the user to perform certain tasks that are then tracked in order to reward the user with points that are used to compete against their friends. To evaluate the application, a group of people made use of the application as they saw fit, for a period of time. Users said that the gamification techniques used were successful in giving them the experience we hoped for. With the competitive element between friends encouraging them to make more use of the application and the tips and facts helping them towards a healthier lifestyle. The biggest concern was that the application didn't encourage the users enough to make as much use as we'd liked.