IS THERE ANY RESEARCH SHOWING

THAT TECHNOLOGY AND/OR SOCIAL MEDIA HAVE HELPED PEOPLE ADOPT AND SUSTAIN

MORE ACTIVE LIFESTYLES? WHICH

PROGRAMS ARE MOST

EFFECTIVE?

Genevieve Fridlund Dunton, Ph.D, MPH

Assistant Professor

Department of Preventive Medicine

University of Southern California

IS TECHNOLOGY OUR FRIEND OR OUR FOE?

MOBILE TECHNOLOGY IS….WELL……MOBILE

GROWING UBIQUITY OF

MOBILE PHONES68% of adults worldwide and 75% of US high

school students own a mobile phone.

International Communications Union, 2010; Kosaraju et al., Telemed J E Health, 2010.

.

Mobile surveying

Mobile sensing

Mobile health apps

Mobile social networking

HARNESSING MOBILE TECHNOLOGY TO FIGHT

OBESITY

MOBILE SURVEYING(AKA: ECOLOGICAL MOMENTARY ASSESSMENT)

AGE AND INCOME DIFFERENCES IN CHILDREN’S PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

CONTEXTS

Dunton et al., American Journal of Health Promotion, 2012

9-10 years

11-13 years

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Perc

en

t o

f P

hysic

al A

cti

v-

ity R

ep

ort

ed

Ou

tdo

ors

Less

than

$45

,000

$45,

000-

$79,

999

$80,

000-

$99,

999

$100

,000

and

abo

ve0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Perc

en

t o

f P

hysic

al A

cti

v-

ity R

ep

ort

ed

Ou

tdo

ors

MOBILE SENSING

AutomaticActivity Detection and Assessment

Tailored Feedbackand Prompting

MOBILE HEALTH APPS

MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKING

CHALLENGES Lack of evidence base

Privacy protection

Toxic exposures

Will people use it?