JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Childhood obesity prevention is a public health priority in industrialized countries. The Reggio Emilia Local Health Authority has thus implemented a program involving primary and secondary prevention as well as the care of obese children. There are many health-promoting mobile Apps, but few are targeted to children and very few are sponsored by public health agencies

Objective:

To describe the process and the tools adopted to co-create a mobile App to be installed in parents’ phones aimed at promoting child health and at preventing obesity sponsored by the Reggio Emilia Local Health Authority

Methods:

After a stakeholder mapping, a consulting committee including relevant actors, stakeholders, and users was constituted. Key persons for childhood obesity prevention were interviewed, focus groups with parents and pediatricians were conducted, community reporting storytelling was collected. The results of these activities were presented to the consulting committee in order to define the functionalities and contents of the mobile App

Results:

Three key trends emerged: physical activity, play, and being outdoors; time for oneself, family and/ or friends; pace of life, the pressures of life and work, and not having enough time. Mothers showed a positive attitude towards using an App to manage their children's weight. In particular, the opportunity to create new recipes was valued positively, as was receiving information on child health. Pediatricians expressed some concerns, however, that the App could increase their workload. When these findings were explored by the consulting committee, four key themes were extracted: strong relationships with peers, family members, and the community; access to safe outdoor spaces; children’s need for age-appropriate independence; professional support should not be judgmental and should be free of stigma. It should be a dialogue that promotes family autonomy. The App functions related to these needs were therefore the following: 1) a newsletter with anticipatory guidance, recipes, and vaccination and well-child visit reminders; 2) a regional map indicating where physical activity can be done; 3) information on to manage emergencies (e.g., falls, burns, fever);4) a module for reinforcing the counselling intervention conducted by pediatricians for overweight children 5)a function to build a balanced daily diet

Conclusions:

The pilot study we conducted showed that co-creation in health promotion is feasible, with the consulting committee being the key co-governance and co-creation tool. The involvement of stakeholders in this committee made it possible to expand the number of persons and institutions actively contributing to the project.