The Use of Mobile Applications in Obese and Overweight Adolescents for Health Improvement

Summary

Overweight and obesity, understood as an accumulation of abnormal and excessive fat, are the second leading cause of preventable and avoidable mortality in developed countries, with more than 340 million children and adolescents affected by this disease worldwide. As a consequence, overweight and obesity at an early age is already considered a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), with a high incidence in developed countries.

The abuse of new technologies has remained at worrying levels in the post-COVID period, favoring an increase in the adolescent population considered sedentary. In this regard, up to 70% of adolescents show sedentary behaviors, especially affecting the time spent on screens by both males (93.8%) and females (87.2%). Thus, the use of the cell phone has been shown to be a determining factor, since between 10% and 16% of adolescents show a problematic use of this device, affecting, among other aspects, their behavior during their free time.

In recent years there has been an increase in sedentary time among adolescents and a decrease in the practice of physical activity that has favored a greater accumulation of body fat and increased the probability of being overweight or obese. In this context, some studies have tried to encourage the practice of physical activity in the school context in overweight and obese population, being these interventions effective to improve body composition.

However, these interventions also have their detractors, who argue that the hours of Physical Education are too limited to dedicate so much time to a single content, and that the pedagogical component is often overlooked in their implementation. As an alternative to the above, it has been suggested that Physical Education classes could be used to promote interventions that encourage adolescents to practice physical activity in their free time, and mobile applications could be used to monitor the activity carried out by adolescents, but also as an element that generates adherence and enjoyment in this population. Research in this population using these technologies is scarce, therefore, this project aims to determine the effectiveness of a ten-week intervention promoted from the subject of physical education in which a mobile application is used after school hours on physical activity, body composition and fitness in overweight or obese adolescents.

Conditions

• Overweight Adolescents
• Obesity, Adolescent
• Physical Inactivity
• Mobile Phone Use
• Behavior, Health

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

STRAVA mobile application

The adolescents in the intervention group will use the STRAVA mobile application for a period of 10 weeks. To do so, they will follow the instructions provided by the researchers on the frequency of use, the distance to be covered and how to record it.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Raquel Vaquero-Cristóbal, PhD · Universidad de Murcia

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Years

Max Age

16 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-09-25

Primary Completion

2023-12-08

Completion

2024-02-16

Countries

• Spain

Study Locations