Modeling the influence of social networks and environment on energy balance and obesity

Giabbanelli, Philippe J.; Alimadad, Azadeh; Dabbaghian, Vahid; Finegood, Diane T.

doi:10.1016/j.jocs.2012.01.004

Cited by 43 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…13,24 The assumption of a stable unit-value treatment effect, on which nearly all statistical analyses depend, makes the statistical testing of social norms difficult 35 ; however, this difficulty should not be taken to imply that social norms are not important in determining behavior. Moreover, ABM allows interactions between individuals and the external food environment, which itself can adapt to individuals' consumption.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By relaxing this assumption, it is possible to observe the dynamic evolution of obesogenic eating behaviors beyond simply explaining correlations between variables, as statistical models typically do. Unlike most other agent-based models that have studied food systems, 24,36 our model is based on existing theories and an empirical database. A baseline validation was conducted to increase the model's reliability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The presence of densely connected groups and the fact that any individual is only a few social ties away from any other is known as the smallworld effect, which is commonly accounted for in the modeling of social networks. 24 Although our baseline scenario relied on small-world networks, we also ran our model under an alternative case with weaker groups, in which social groups were modeled as a random network. (Appendix A, available as a supplement to the online version of this article at http:// www.ajph.org, summarizes the models used to generate both network types, together with their calibration.)…”

Section: Process Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…20--- 22 We used ABM, a powerful technique when there is heterogeneity among members of the population and when behavior changes as a result of interactions between different individuals or between individuals and their environment (i.e., adaptation). 23,24 We developed a computer model explicitly representing how individuals make decisions to examine the impact of policies on their food consumption. Our model was based on a multilevel theory of population health that emphasizes the role of cognitive habits in human behaviors.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Impact of Different Policies on Unhealthy Dietary Behaviors in an Urban Adult Population: An Agent-Based Simulation Model

et al. 2014

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The literature on policy interventions to address obesogenic dietary behaviors can be divided into 3 distinct categories. The first is the use of economic measures to alter food consumption, such as taxing unhealthy ingredients and subsidizing healthy foods, 1---4 in light of studies that have shown the price of a calorie obtained from unhealthful foods is lower than the price of a calorie from more healthful foods. 5,6 The second is targeting the food environment through zoning polices, including increasing the number of healthy food vendors in "food desert" communities 7 and restricting the opening of new fast-food restaurants. 8The third and final category is related to combating unhealthy eating norms, given research showing the power of food marketing to change dietary behaviors and proposing restrictions on the time, place, and manner in which obesogenic foods are marketed. 9,10 Conversely, pro-nutritional marketing focuses on education as a means of increasing consumers' awareness of dietary health (e.g., nutrition disclosure on menus and the issuing of dietary guidelines). 11, 12The research to date focusing on the effects of these various approaches has incorporated theoretical and empirical techniques that rely on the stable unit treatment value assumption, according to which there are no interactions among people who experience an intervention that would alter the effectiveness of the intervention. However, this assumption is known to be violated in the case of obesity-related behaviors.13, 14 What is therefore not clear from existing regression-based and experimental empirical work is the potential magnitude of the population-level impact of these policies if they were implemented in the real world. We performed simulations to contrast the potential of different approaches aiming at tackling unhealthy dietary behaviors in a population of urban US adults. Simulations involving systems dynamics or agent-based modeling (ABM) are increasingly being used in public health, 15,16 We developed a computer model explicitly representing how individuals make decisions to examine the impact of policies on their food consumption. Our model was based on a multilevel theory of population health that emphasizes the role of cognitive habits in human behaviors. 25 According to this theory, individual beliefs are influenced by incentivesas in rational-choice theory-but also shaped by cognitive habits that are reinforced within a population by social norms and culture. Thus, our model examined how individual beliefs are influenced by interventions either in the social network or in the food environment. METHODSOur agent-based model contained 2 kinds of agents: individuals and food outlets. Individuals make dietary choices, and food outlets adapt to those choices. In our model, a single time period was defined as 1 day, and each simulation was run for more than 3 years (1100 days).In our simulations, individuals were assigned demographic characteristics (age, gender, Objectives. Unhealthy eating is a complex-system prob...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Process Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of Different Policies on Unhealthy Dietary Behaviors in an Urban Adult Population: An Agent-Based Simulation Model

et al. 2014

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“…These activities impacted on their energy balance and their weight via an approximation of human metabolism. For example, one's peers may favour watching movies together or jogging in the morning, and these different approaches to physical activity are weighted against food intake where an imbalance may change weight [11,12]. We later improved this model by creating an expert system based on consultations with international experts of obesity [13].…”

Section: Obesitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Interdisciplinary teaching and learning in computing science

Giabbanelli

Reid

Dabbaghian

2012

Proceedings of the Seventeenth Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education

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Simon Fraser University introduced the Modelling of Complex Social Systems Program (MoCSSy) as an interdisciplinary research program aimed at complex societal issues. Since its inception, the MoCSSy program has engaged a number of students from computing science, who worked on problems brought by their peers in fields such as obesity and criminology. In this paper, we introduce the organization and structure of MoCSSy, pointing to the importance of computing science in meeting the specific goals and objectives of the Program. Through an analysis of surveys completed with MoCSSy students, we conducted a preliminary assessment on the impact of the program for computing science majors and non majors. We found that the program successfully achieved many of its goals, as computing science majors and non-majors appreciated working with each other and made academic contributions that would not have been possible without this synergy. Finally, we analyze current challenges and identify a strategy for the way forward.

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From Social Media to Expert Reports: The Impact of Source Selection on Automatically Validating Complex Conceptual Models of Obesity

Sandhu

Giabbanelli

Mago

2019

Social Computing and Social Media. Design, Human Behavior and Analytics

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Modeling the influence of social networks and environment on energy balance and obesity

Cited by 43 publications

References 26 publications

Impact of Different Policies on Unhealthy Dietary Behaviors in an Urban Adult Population: An Agent-Based Simulation Model

Impact of Different Policies on Unhealthy Dietary Behaviors in an Urban Adult Population: An Agent-Based Simulation Model

Interdisciplinary teaching and learning in computing science

From Social Media to Expert Reports: The Impact of Source Selection on Automatically Validating Complex Conceptual Models of Obesity

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