Integrating Theory With a User-Centered Design Approach to Maximize mHealth Acceptability and Usability

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• mHealth Interventions
• Childhood Obesity Prevention

Background:

• Over one-quarter of 2- to 5-year-old Latino children are overweight or obese.
• Existing mobile interventions often exclude the critical preschool years (ages 2-5).
• Previous interventions overlooked the influence of multiple caregivers (fathers, grandparents) on children's behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the development and refinement of a theory-informed mobile phone intervention for preschool-aged Latino children.
• To support healthy weight-related behaviors by engaging mothers, fathers, and grandparents.
• To create a culturally centered, bilingual intervention addressing obesity in young Latino children.

Main Methods:

• An iterative, user-centered approach was used to develop the intervention.
• The intervention, Familias Unidas, Niños Sanos (FUNS), is theory-informed (Family Systems Theory, Social Cognitive Theory).
• It involves weekly text messages and web-based content delivered over 12 weeks, focusing on healthy eating, media viewing, and physical activity.

Main Results:

• The prototype intervention, FUNS, received high levels of acceptability and usability.
• The intervention is ready for feasibility testing.
• The systematic development process can serve as a model for future mHealth interventions.

Conclusions:

• The developed mobile intervention effectively engages diverse caregivers in promoting healthy behaviors for preschool-aged Latino children.
• The FUNS intervention demonstrates a promising approach to childhood obesity prevention in a vulnerable population.
• This user-centered, theory-informed methodology addresses a gap in mHealth intervention development and application.