Personal Goals, User Engagement, and Meal Adherence within a Personalised AI-Based Mobile Application for Nutrition and Physical Activity
Year: 2024
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Mobile applications have been shown to be an effective and feasible intervention medium for improving healthy food intake in different target groups. As part of the PeRsOnalized nutriTion for hEalthy livINg (PROTEIN) European Union H2020 project, the PROTEIN mobile application was developed as an end-user environment, aiming to facilitate healthier lifestyles through artificial intelligence (AI)-based personalised dietary and physical activity recommendations. Recommendations were generated by an AI advisor for different user groups, combining users’ personal information and preferences with a custom knowledge-based system developed by experts to create personalised, evidence-based nutrition and activity plans. The PROTEIN app was piloted across different user groups in five European countries (Belgium, Germany, Greece, Portugal, and the United Kingdom). Data from the PROTEIN app’s user database (n = 579) and the PROTEIN end-user questionnaire (n = 446) were analysed using the chi-square test of independence to identify associations between personal goals, meal recommendations, and meal adherence among different gender, age, and user groups. The results indicate that weight loss-related goals are more prevalent, as well as more engaging, across all users. Health- and physical activity-related goals are key for increased meal adherence, with further differentiation evident between age and user groups. Congruency between user groups and their respective goals is also important for increased meal adherence. Our study outcomes, and the overall research framework created by the PROTEIN project, can be used to inform the future development of nutrition mobile applications and enable researchers and application designers/developers to better address personalisation for specific user groups, with a focus on user intent, as well as in-app features.
Source: Life
DOI: 10.3390/life14101238
Authors: Elena Patra, Anna Kokkinopoulou, Saskia Wilson-Barnes, Kathryn Hart, Lazaros P. Gymnopoulos, Dorothea Tsatsou, Vassilios Solachidis, Kosmas Dimitropoulos, Konstantinos Rouskas, Anagnostis Argiriou, Elena Lalama, Marta Csanalosi, Andreas F. H. Pfeiffer, Véronique Cornelissen, Elise Decorte, Sofia Balula Dias, Yannis Oikonomidis, José María Botana, Riccardo Leoni, Duncan Russell, Eugenio Mantovani, Milena Aleksić, Boris Brkić, Maria Hassapidou, Ioannis Pagkalos
Institutions: International Hellenic University, University of Surrey, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, KU Leuven, University of Lisbon, Centro Interdisciplinar de Estudo da Performance Humana, INTRASOFT International (Greece), CGI (Spain), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, BioSense Institute
Language: English
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,955
Funder: European Commission
OpenAlex ID: W4402925620