Using the Internet for Life Style Changes in Diet and Physical Activity: A Feasibility Study

Abstract

BackgroundLinkMedica-Heart is a novel Internet based program intended to support people who seek to improve their life style by means of changes in diet and physical activity. The program is currently under evaluation in a clinical study and the present study is a feasibility test of the LinkMedica-Heart Internet based program.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate LinkMedica-Heart, an Internet based program we designed for support and maintenance of patient-led life style changes.MethodsThe feasibility study of LinkMedica-Heart presented here is a qualitative study. Nine general practitioners were invited to participate. Each practitioner was asked to introduce LinkMedica-Heart to not less than two patients, with a maximum of five patients per practitioner. Patients and general practitioners were both asked to participate in testing the program for a period of 6 months. At the end of 6 months, evaluation meetings were held with the general practitioners, and separate interviews took place with some of the participating patients who were selected by the GPs.ResultsFive general practitioners and 25 patients participated in the study. The general practitioners and the patients were enthusiastic about the prospect of an Internet based life style change program. However, the program was not able to sustain patient loyalty over an extended period. The doctors found that the program was much too complicated to navigate and that the results from the program could not be trusted. The patients in contrast had fewer complaints about the program design, but found that the advice given by the program was too elaborate and detailed and, in general, did not add to the patient's knowledge on life style change.ConclusionOur study confirms that there is a need for, and a receptive attitude toward a Web-based program that supports people who want to improve their life style and health. LinkMedica-Heart in its present form does not satisfy these needs. We suggest a number of design changes and improvements to the program.

Randomised controlled trial and economic analysis of an internet-based weight management programme: POWeR+ (Positive Online Weight Reduction)

“…The approach emphasises that forming 'healthy habits' that can be maintained long term rather than following prescriptive, complex or intrusive eating plans that are not sustainable. 19,20 Initial development of the prototype intervention…”

Happier Together: Integrating a Wellness Application into a Social Network Site

“…There have been many recent studies of online or computer-supported intervention to promote wellness -especially physical activity promotion [e.g., 1,3,6,7,9,18], diet [e.g., 4], or chronic disease management [e.g., 8,10]. Internet-based support groups for both patients and caregivers have also received substantial research attention [e.g., 2,5,19,20].…”

“…Applications to promote health and wellness have attracted significant attention from the HCI and Health Informatics research communities [e.g., [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Increasingly, applications allow intervention participants to interact with each other [e.g., 3,4,7].…”

“…Second, many members of Facebook visit the site very frequently, with nearly 50% of active users visiting every day [14]. Integrating a health intervention into a website that people are already frequenting could help overcome the challenges to adherence that many self-directed health interventions face [1,6,10]. Reported adherence to Internet-mediated anxiety and depression interventions deployed through open-access stand-alone websites were as low as 1% [15]; participation rates in controlled studies, presumably involving subject screening and participation incentives, were reported as 19% for a smoking cessation study and 34% for a diabetes self-management study [16].…”

To Track or Not to Track: User Reactions to Concepts in Longitudinal Health Monitoring

“…However, logging can be difficult for patients to maintain over time [22], and data originally deemed useful from a practitioner's perspective may not be easy for users to apply to everyday situations [23]. Tracked data may need to have immediate applications and be particularly relevant from a user's perspective for these systems to be kept in use long term.…”