Paper Type
Prototype Paper
Description
Childhood obesity is becoming an alarming issu with implications affecting the society and the healthcare sector. In response, multi-professional programs with physical activity, nutritional and psychological components have been proposed. Still, du to limited resources only small number of patients can be included in these programs. Health information systems (HIS) have the potential to tackle these challenges. Yet little is known about the design and effects of HIS in the domain of multi-professional obesity programs, in particular those tailored to children and adolescents. In order to address this problem we have built a HIS prototype with a goal to support obesity interventions for children and adolescents. The prototype provides several contributions to theory and practice. First, it fits to the concept of multi-professional obesity interventions not present in most of existing commercial and research-based applications. Second, it provides an instrument that is co-designed by patients, IS researchers, computer scientists and obesity experts, thus tailored to the specific needs of children and adolescents. Third, it provides a possibility to gain evidence-based knowledge about the potentials and the effects of HIS over obesity therapy outcomes through longitudinal field studies.
HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR OBESITY PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
Childhood obesity is becoming an alarming issu with implications affecting the society and the healthcare sector. In response, multi-professional programs with physical activity, nutritional and psychological components have been proposed. Still, du to limited resources only small number of patients can be included in these programs. Health information systems (HIS) have the potential to tackle these challenges. Yet little is known about the design and effects of HIS in the domain of multi-professional obesity programs, in particular those tailored to children and adolescents. In order to address this problem we have built a HIS prototype with a goal to support obesity interventions for children and adolescents. The prototype provides several contributions to theory and practice. First, it fits to the concept of multi-professional obesity interventions not present in most of existing commercial and research-based applications. Second, it provides an instrument that is co-designed by patients, IS researchers, computer scientists and obesity experts, thus tailored to the specific needs of children and adolescents. Third, it provides a possibility to gain evidence-based knowledge about the potentials and the effects of HIS over obesity therapy outcomes through longitudinal field studies.