Prioritization of Features for Mobile Apps for Families in a Federal Nutrition Program for Low-Income Women, Infants, and Children: User-Centered Design Approach

Abstract

Background The Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a federal nutrition program that provides nutritious food, education, and health care referrals to low-income women, infants, and children up to the age of 5 years. Although WIC is associated with positive health outcomes for each participant category, modernization and efficiency are needed at the clinic and shopping levels to increase program satisfaction and participation rates. New technologies, such as electronic benefits transfer (EBT), online nutrition education, and mobile apps, can provide opportunities to improve the WIC experience for participants. Objective This formative study applies user-centered design principles to inform the layout and prioritization of features in mobile apps for low-income families participating in the WIC program. Methods To identify and prioritize desirable app features, caregivers (N=22) of the children enrolled in WIC participated in individual semistructured interviews with a card sorting activity. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using constant comparative analysis for themes. App features were ranked and placed into natural groupings by each participant. The sum and average of the rankings were calculated to understand which features were prioritized by the users. Natural groupings of features were labeled according to participant descriptions. Results Natural groupings focused on the following categories: clinics/appointments, shopping/stores, education/assessments, location, and recipes/food. Themes from the interviews triangulated the results from the ranking activity. The priority app features were balance checking, an item scanner, and appointment scheduling. Other app features discussed and ranked included appointment reminders, nutrition training and quizzes, shopping lists, clinic and store locators, recipe gallery, produce calculator, and dietary preferences/allergies. Conclusions This study demonstrates how a user-centered design process can aid the development of an app for low-income families participating in WIC to inform the effective design of the app features and user interface.

A Systematic Review of Marketing Practices Used in Online Grocery Shopping: Implications for WIC Online Ordering

“…Providing recipes and ingredient lists featuring WIC foods at a point that allows the items to be added directly to one’s online shopping cart may facilitate the redemption of benefits. The WIC shopper app already provides recipes that incorporate WIC foods to participants to help promote purchases and consumption of WIC foods, but evidence of WIC participant interest in this feature is mixed [ 63 ]. However, the WIC shopper app is not an online grocery shopping platform, but rather a way for WIC participants to track what benefits they have available and identify food items that qualify for WIC.…”

Commercially Available Mobile Apps With Family Behavioral Goal Setting and Tracking for Parents: Review and Quality Evaluation

“…Furthermore, the context in which parents interact with mobile apps related to goal setting and tracking will likely influence the effectiveness on behavior initiation and maintenance. For example, a parent could set a goal to initiate a new food purchasing behavior during a visit with a nutritionist at a public assistance program, then use a mobile app provided by the nutritionist when they go home to track goal progress, receive ongoing reinforcement, and share their progress with the nutritionist [ 53 - 55 ].…”