Crowdsourcing for adolescent health
While growing up through adolescence we develop behaviours, such as how much we exercise or eat, that impact on the rest of our lives.
This project is a research programme designed to help us understand what behaviours change our health for better or worse, and what influences those behaviours.
Smartphone apps allow people to record behaviours in real time, rather than trying to recall them later, which enables health researchers to collect several types of data from people as they go about their lives.
In the early stages of this project, we heard from young people taking part in our own research or other studies that they use apps to track behaviours such as physical activity, diet, and periods. Parents also indicated to us that they think tracking health is a good use of a phone for teenagers.
During this project we have been developing these different features of the app with young people and parents to make sure it fits with what people want and would use, being fun where appropriate but also serious and reassuring where required - we understand that health data is important to people and we want people to feel comfortable using this app. We are also making sure that the app is easy and quick to use, only asking appropriate questions. The app will need to keep the information private and safely share the data with researchers.
In the final stage of the project, our app will be available for download and we will be running sessions to find out more about how it might be used and develop ideas for its future.
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