Family-Based Digital Lifestyle Intervention for Hispanic Adolescents and Their Parents: Iterative Co-Design and...

Hispanic youth in the United States have the highest rates of pediatric obesity and do not often meet national guidelines for physical activity and dietary intake. Family-based interventions can improve health outcomes in both youth and their parents and are highly relevant to Hispanics due to the cultural value of familismo (familism). However, few existing family-based obesity prevention interventions for Hispanics target adolescents and their parents, and those that do are not designed to facilitate widespread reach.

This study describes the development of Healthy Juntos (Healthy Together), a family-based intervention for Hispanic adolescents and their parents that leverages the web and smartphone technology to prevent the onset of adolescent obesity by promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors (physical activity and diet).

We used an iterative co-design process guided by the Integrate, Design, Assess, and Share (IDEAS) framework, which outlines 10 phases for developing digital interventions. Hispanic adolescents at risk for obesity and their parents (n=90; 45 dyads) participated across different phases of the intervention development process. We conducted qualitative interviews to understand their needs and preferences and to gather feedback on a series of intervention prototypes (conceptual, paper and minimally functional, and fully functional).

Participants reported using technology for their health in limited ways (eg, to search for medical symptoms and recipes). They described the importance of having interactive and social features as part of a family-based digital health intervention. Their suggestions related to content, functionality, and aesthetics resulted in a fully functional prototype of a digital lifestyle intervention for Hispanic adolescents and their parents.

The iterative co-design process was crucial for refining the Healthy Juntos intervention. Our next steps are to evaluate its feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects through a pilot randomized controlled trial.