TeenPower: Measuring the effectiveness of an intervention program and engaging adolescents towards physical activities using location-aware gamification

Alves, Rodrigo; Carvalho, Marta; Reis, Catarina

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.8/3934

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Authors

Alves, Rodrigo

Carvalho, Marta

Reis, Catarina

Abstract(s)

Adolescents, reportedly, easily adopt a sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy behaviors easily carried into adulthood. Prevention is one of the few viable ways to contain the current epidemic percentages of overweight and obesity. The TeenPower Project has created an intervention program that relies on a mHealth platform to engage teenagers into embracing healthier lifestyle behaviors. Although the program is already fully deployed in some schools, further work is necessary to continue to encourage adolescents into long lasting behavioral changes. It is necessary to measure the effectiveness of this intervention program by analyzing the data generated by the adolescent’s usage of the platform. This analysis may also support the decision-making process of health professionals when planning the future of the intervention program. On the other hand, gamification, the use of game-like rewards and incentives, paired with desired behaviors to increase motivations, is starting to be integrated in the mobile application as a way to engage to adolescents in the platform.

Description

Acknowledgement This paper is on behalf of the TeenPower research group. We acknowledge the Polytechnic Institutes of Leiria, Santarém and Castelo Branco, the Municipality of Leiria (City Hall), and all members, institutions and students involved in the project. This project is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, under the Portugal 2020 Program, through COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-23557).