Proposal

Narrative

While many adults are capable of utilizing health information to manage complex and challenging aspects of their personal life, according to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), less than 12% of the adult population possess proficient health literacy required to access, understand, and to follow recommended guidelines and procedures. The mobile app offers an interactive and convenient means to boost self-efficacy or the confidence to carry out health behaviors. Indeed, the app can address health literacy deficiencies through direct involvement, vicarious learning, and encouragement, offering rapid turnaround of corrective actions critical to self-efficacy and the likelihood of adhering to personalized health programs. The participating students will use the app during the semester to track their progress in a nutrition intervention. The A.I. element of the app will provide tailored feedback to the information entered by the student, as well as serve as an educational resource when navigating the nutrition terminology and concepts. Faculty and student researchers will simultaneously evaluate changes in self-efficacy, health literacy, and actual behavior change progress through multiple survey instrument deployments. We will incorporate this in-vivo experiment into classroom lectures to enhance the student learning experience. All involved will develop a better understanding of not only the impact of self-efficacy and health literacy on health behavior change but also the beneficial use of app-based technology to sustain healthy behaviors.

Facilities

N/A - We will utilize existing office space housed in the ESHP department

Hardware Requirements

One Dell laptop to be utilized for project administration, data analysis, document processing, etc. https://deals.dell.com/en-us/productdetail/5uj8

Software Requirements

Recently, mobile app-based programs, an artificial intelligence (AI), have emerged as an effective way to promote healthy lifestyles. For example, mobile app programs can be effective in preventing and managing lifestyle disease risk by promoting physical activity, improve dietary habits, promote weight loss, smoking succession, and mitigating anxiety and depression. Importantly, accessing health promotion programs, including advice, information, feedback, and self-monitoring is challenging; hence, mobile app-based programs are an alternative. We are requesting funding to support the purchase of and management of data generated from a commercially available mobile app-based health promotion program, namely, the FitGenie. The FitGenie is a self-adjusting smart calorie counter that uses machine learning to help automate meal planning. The user enters basic information regarding their physiology, goals, diet preferences, and activity levels. As the individual progresses through the behavior change, they update their information (weight, food diary, reflections, hunger levels, fatigue, etc.) and the app will adjust and suggest changes to their meal plan. The algorithm accepts basic information entry without requiring the user to be versed in advanced nutrition concepts. Through interaction with the app, the user will develop a better working knowledge of nutrition concepts beyond meal planning (macro-tracking, food preparation, weight management, body composition, etc.). https://www.fitgenieapp.com/

Personnel Costs

1-year funding for a graduate research assistant (20 hours p/week working directly with Dr. Hall (IRB approval, subject recruitment, data entry/analysis). All components of the health promotion initiative (study) will take place virtually.

Other Costs

N/A - No other costs for the project are anticipated.

Timeline

The project will commence the semester following the grant award. It is anticipated to start at the beginning of the Spring 2021 semester, include the Summer 2021 semester, and conclude following the Fall 2021 semester. Data collection will be continuous through all 3 semesters. Research Design: Deploying the App We propose utilizing an AI-based mobile app with students enrolled in ESHP courses (see list below) that cover the topics of health behavior, self-efficacy, and health literacy to evaluate its effectiveness in addressing self-efficacy and health literacy within a nutrition-related health behavior change driven by a mobile app-based program. • HSC 2100 Health and Fitness for Life; HSC 3102 Perspectives in Health; HSC 4104 Stress Management; HSC 4149 Weight Management; HSC 4143 Substance Abuse, HSC 4581 Health Promotion; HSC 6248 Needs assessment/Program Planning; HSC 6585 Health Behavior/Education/Promotion)

Sustainability

As a pilot study, the number of students touched by this app-based health promotion initiative will be approximately 300. Importantly, this health promotion initiative is consistent with the FAU strategic plan emphasizing health-related research and transdisciplinary specialized research units including i-Health and i-sense as well as an array of scientific interests across colleges (e.g. CoS, CoM, CoN). Both i-Health and i-Sense directors, Drs. Fields and Halstrom, respectively, have expressed interest in this project. Thus, we see opportunities for collaboration across colleges while serving to stimulate undergraduate and graduate research while potentially improving the dietary habits of 300 FAU students. While this initiative is app-based, ongoing related and future research seems eminent should we explore the extent to which the app-based approach is traceable to underlying mechanisms (e.g. epigenetic, molecular pathways) as well as behavior change and ultimately, the creation of data repositories accessible to the university community. Again, stimulating collaboration between academic units and numerous students as active participants and scientists. Finally, the deployment of a nutrition piece is but one of four (stress, sleep, exercise) pillars of health that we hope to address once we establish the efficacy of a mobile app-based health promotion (nutrition) initiative. The overall vision is to develop a center to avail the benefits of the apps to the FAU community at large.

Resource Matching

N/A - No resource matching is anticipated.

Implementing Organization

The department of Exercise Science & Health Promotion, under the College of Science, will oversee the distribution of apps; data collection and analysis; and day-to-day operations of the project.