RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Blood glucose management around exercise is challenging for youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Previous research has indicated interventions including decision-support aids to better support youth to effectively contextualize blood glucose results and take appropriate action to optimize glucose levels during and after exercise. Mobile health (mHealth) apps help deliver health behavior interventions to youth with T1D, given the use of technology for glucose monitoring, insulin dosing, and carbohydrate counting. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to develop a novel prototype mHealth app to support exercise management among youth with T1D, detail the application of a co-design process and design thinking principles to inform app design and development, and identify app content and functionality that youth with T1D need to meet their physical activity goals. METHODS: A co-design approach with a user-centered design thinking framework was used to develop a prototype mHealth app "acT1ve" during the 18-month design process (March 2018 to September 2019). To better understand and respond to the challenges among youth with diabetes when physically active, 10 focus groups were conducted with youth aged 13-25 years with T1D and parents of youth with T1D. Thereafter, we conducted participatory design workshops with youth to identify key app features that would support individual needs when physically active. These features were incorporated into a wireframe, which was critically reviewed by participants. A beta version of "acT1ve" was built in iOS and android operating systems, which underwent critical review by end users, clinicians, researchers, experts in exercise and T1D, and app designers. RESULTS: Sixty youth with T1D, 14 parents, 6 researchers, and 10 clinicians were engaged in the development of "acT1ve." acT1ve included key features identified by youth, which would support their individual needs when physically active. It provided advice on carbohydrates and insulin during exercise, information on hypoglycemia treatment, pre- and postexercise advice, and an educational food guide regarding exercise management. "acT1ve" contained an exercise advisor algorithm comprising 240 pathways developed by experts in diabetes and exercise research. Based on participant input during exercise, acT1ve provided personalized insulin and carbohydrate advice for exercise lasting up to 60 minutes. It also contains other features including an activity log, which displays a complete record of the end users' activities and associated exercise advice provided by the app's algorithm for later reference, and regular reminder notifications for end users to check or monitor their glucose levels. CONCLUSIONS: The co-design approach and the practical application of the user-centered design thinking framework were successfully applied in developing "acT1ve." The design thinking processes allowed youth with T1D to identify app features that would support them to be physically active, and particularly enabled the delivery of individualized advice. Furthermore, app development has been described in detail to help guide others embarking on a similar project. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12619001414101; https://tinyurl.com/mu9jvn2d.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: A balanced approach toward sun exposure and protection is needed by young people. Excessive sun exposure increases their risk for skin cancers such as melanoma, whereas some exposure is necessary for vitamin D and healthy bones. We have developed a new iOS smartphone app-Sun Safe-through a co-design process, which aims to support healthy and balanced decision-making by young teenagers (aged 12-13 years). OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to test the capacity of Sun Safe to improve sun health knowledge and behaviors of young teenagers in 3 pilot intervention studies completed in 2020. METHODS: Young teenagers (aged 12-13 years; N=57) were recruited through the web or through a local school via an open-access website and given access to Sun Safe (29/57, 51%) or a placebo (SunDial) app (28/57, 49%). Participants completed sun health questionnaires and knowledge quizzes before and after the 6-week intervention (either on the web or in class) and rated the quality of the app they used via a survey. RESULTS: Of the 57 participants, 51 (89%) participants (26, 51% for placebo arm and 25, 49% for the Sun Safe arm) completed these studies, with most (>50%) reporting that they used a smartphone to access their designated app either "once a fortnight" or "once/twice in total." Improved sun health knowledge-particularly about the UV Index-was observed in participants who were given access to Sun Safe compared with those who used the placebo (-6.2 [percentage correct] difference in predicted means, 95% CI -12.4 to -0.03; P=.049; 2-way ANOVA). Unexpectedly, there were significantly more sunburn events in the Sun Safe group (relative risk 1.7, 95% CI 1.1-1.8; P=.02; Fisher exact test), although no differences in time spent outdoors or sun-protective behaviors were reported. COVID-19 pandemic-related community-wide shutdowns during April 2020 (when schools were closed) reduced the time spent outdoors by >100 minutes per day (-105 minutes per day difference in predicted means, 95% CI -150 to -59 minutes per day; P=.002; paired 2-tailed Student t test). Sun Safe was well-rated by participants, particularly for information (mean 4.2, SD 0.6 out of 5). CONCLUSIONS: Access to the Sun Safe app increased sun health knowledge among young teenagers in these pilot intervention studies. Further investigations with larger sample sizes are required to confirm these observations and further test the effects of Sun Safe on sun-protective behaviors.
RESUMEN
Despite education about the risks of excessive sun exposure, teenagers in Australia are sun-seeking, with sunburn common in summer. Conversely, some regular (time-limited) exposure to sunlight (that avoids sunburn) is necessary for vitamin D and healthy bones and other molecules important for immune and metabolic health. New interventions are thus required to better support teenagers to make healthy and balanced decisions about their sun behaviors. This paper describes the development of a prototype online tool-a smartphone app-that aimed to foster safe sun practices in teenagers. We recruited young adolescents (aged 12-13 years, n = 24) as "co-researchers" to provide ongoing input into the nature and design of the online tool. This age group was selected, as it is a critical time when young people transition from primary education, where "SunSmart" behaviors are entrenched in Australian schools, to high school, where risky behaviors emerge. Through a series of interviews and workshops, we codesigned an Apple iOS smartphone app with the co-researchers, leading health promotion professionals, researchers, and app designers. The developed app, Sun Safe, contains educational content relevant to teenagers about safe sun behaviors, complemented by other features requested by co-researchers and stakeholders to help engage young people, including gamified quizzes to test their sun health knowledge, real-time weather data on the UV Index and temperature, a sunscreen application timer, and reminders to check the UV Index. The developed prototype app was rated well by co-researchers, suggesting it is suitable for further feasibility and efficacy testing as an intervention tool to improve knowledge and promote safe sun behaviors by young adolescents.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Humans are by nature a social species, with much of human experience spent in social interaction. Unsurprisingly, social functioning is crucial to well-being and quality of life across the lifespan. While early intervention for social problems appears promising, our ability to identify the specific impairments underlying their social problems (eg, social communication) is restricted by a dearth of accurate, ecologically valid and comprehensive child-direct assessment tools. Current tools are largely limited to parent and teacher ratings scales, which may identify social dysfunction, but not its underlying cause, or adult-based experimental tools, which lack age-appropriate norms. The present study describes the development and standardisation of Paediatric Evaluation of Emotions, Relationships, and Socialisation (PEERS®), an iPad-based social skills assessment tool. METHODS: The PEERS project is a cross-sectional study involving two groups: (1) a normative group, recruited from early childhood, primary and secondary schools across metropolitan and regional Victoria, Australia; and (2) a clinical group, ascertained from outpatient services at The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne (RCH). The project aims to establish normative data for PEERS®, a novel and comprehensive app-delivered child-direct measure of social skills for children and youth. The project involves recruiting and assessing 1000 children aged 4.0-17.11 years. Assessments consist of an intellectual screen, PEERS® subtests, and PEERS-Q, a self-report questionnaire of social skills. Parents and teachers also complete questionnaires relating to participants' social skills. Main analyses will comprise regression-based continuous norming, factor analysis and psychometric analysis of PEERS® and PEERS-Q. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval has been obtained through the RCH Human Research Ethics Committee (34046), the Victorian Government Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (002318), and Catholic Education Melbourne (2166). Findings will be disseminated through international conferences and peer-reviewed journals. Following standardisation of PEERS®, the tool will be made commercially available.