kjhp Korean Journal of Health Promotion Korean J Health Promot 2234-2141 2093-5676 The Korean Society of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention 10.15384/kjhp.2016.16.4.251 kjhp-16-251 Original Article Acceptability and Feasibility of a Smartphone Application for 5th, 6th Grade Elementary Students to Prevent Childhood Obesity; a Qualitative Study JungJi-Hye 1 ChoYoung-Gyu 1 2 JiDa-Ye 1 KangJae-Heon 1 2 Institute for Clinical Nutrition, Inje University, Seoul, Korea Department of Family Medicine, Seoul Paik Hospital, College of Medicine, Inje University, Seoul, Korea Corresponding author: Jae-Heon Kang, MD, PhD Institute for Clinical Nutrition, Inje University, 18 Mareunnae-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul 04552, Korea Tel: +82-2-2272-0908, Fax: +82-2-2268-0971 E-mail: fmleader@nuri.net 01 2016 20 01 2016 16 4 251 259 15072016 28122016 Copyright © 2016 The Korean Society of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention 2016 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background

This study aimed to describe the acceptability and feasibility of the “HAPPY ME”, a smartphone application (app) for guiding healthy eating habits and physical activities to prevent childhood obesity, through in-depth interviews of 5th and 6th grade students of an elementary school.

 Methods

A total of 25 students were recruited from grades 5 and 6 of an elementary school in Gimpo. They were asked to participate in in-depth interviews about expectations regarding the “HAPPY ME”, smartphone usage behaviors, perceptions and attitudes towards health, and satisfaction with the “HAPPY ME”, before and after the 4-week trial of the “HAPPY ME”.

 Results

Study participants reported a high level of satisfaction regarding gamification elements such as awarding points as rewards for completing missions and using closed social networking services with friends. They also reported that their eating habits had improved after the 4-week trial. However, some students felt that the app was complicated to use and recommended that it should have prompts as notifications.

 Conclusions

This study showed that the “HAPPY ME” is acceptable and feasible for use with children. However, the app needs to be modified based on the results of this study.

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Screenshots of the “HAPPY ME” application.

Contents of pre-intervention interview questions

Theme Sub-theme
Expectations Expectations from participating in the study
regarding the “HAPPY ME” Interesting features of the “HAPPY ME”
Features that the “HAPPY ME” should include
  Form (quiz, video, game, etc.)
Smartphone Benefits of a smartphone
usage behaviors Commonly used applications Total time spent on smartphone use per day
Perceptions Perceptions regarding health
and attitudes towards health Self-evaluation of your health Definition of healthy eating habits Usual eating habits
  Perceptions towards exercise
  Relationship between exercise and health Usual exercise pattern (duration, frequency, intensity, etc.)

Contents of post-intervention interview questions

Theme Sub-theme
Expectation regarding the Features that the “HAPPY ME” should include
“HAPPY ME” Form (quiz, video, game, etc.)
Satisfaction with Your favorite features of the “HAPPY ME”
the “HAPPY ME” Functions that the “HAPPY ME” should
have for sustained use
  Evaluation of the gamification elements
  Function used most frequently
  Inconvenient elements
Perceptions and Perceptions regarding health
attitudes towards health Self-evaluation of health Definition of healthy eating habits
  Effect of the “HAPPY ME” on eating habits
  Reasons for changes in eating habits
  Perceptions towards exercise
  Relationship between exercise and health
  Effect of the “HAPPY ME” on the exercise pattern
  Reasons for changes in the exercise pattern

General characteristics of the study participants

Question Number (%)
Gender  
Boys 14 (56)
Girls 11 (44)
Age (years)  
10 2 (8)
11 12 (48)
12 11 (44)
Year in elementary school  
Fifth year 9 (36)
Sixth year 16 (64)
Type of mobile OS  
Android 25 (100)
iOS 0 (0)
Time of smartphone use (hours/day)  
<1 4 (16)
1–2 12 (48)
≥2 9 (36)