King Saud University, Food Science and Nutrition, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2015 May 20;3(2):e41. doi: 10.2196/mhealth.4409.
Overweight and obesity are international public health issues. With mobile and app use growing globally, the development of weight loss apps are increasing along with evidence that interventions using technology have been effective in the treatment of obesity. Although studies have been conducted regarding what content health professionals would recommend within weight loss apps, there are limited studies that explore users' viewpoints. There is specifically a paucity of research that takes the cultural background of the user into consideration, especially in Middle Eastern countries where the lives and weight loss intervention needs of women not only vary vastly from the West, but the obesity rate is also increasing exponentially.
The current study sought to explore the proposed features of an Arabic weight loss app by seeking the experiences and opinions of overweight and obese Saudi Arabian users in order to design a mobile phone app to fit their needs.
Focus group discussions were conducted with a purposive sample of volunteer overweight and obese Saudi women (BMI ≥ 25) who were older than 18 years and who owned a mobile phone. The most common Arabic and English weight loss mobile apps were downloaded to initiate dialogue about app usage and to get their opinions on what an ideal weight loss app would look like and the features it would include. All transcribed, translated discussions were thematically analyzed, categorized for each of the main topics of the discussion, and specific quotations were identified.
Four focus groups were conducted with a total of 39 participants. Most participants owned an Android mobile phone and only a few participants were aware of the availability of health-related apps. Barriers to weight loss were identified including: motivation, support (social and professional), boring diets, customs, and lifestyle. Diverse themes emerged as suggestions for an ideal weight loss app including: Arabic language and culturally sensitive; motivational support and social networking; dietary and physical activity tools; and a tailorable, user-friendly interface.
This study identifies weight loss app features from the users' perspective, which should be considered in the development of a weight loss app for this population.
超重和肥胖是国际公共卫生问题。随着移动设备和应用程序在全球范围内的普及，减肥应用程序的开发也在增加，同时有证据表明，使用技术的干预措施在肥胖治疗方面是有效的。尽管已经有研究探讨了健康专业人士在减肥应用程序中推荐哪些内容，但很少有研究探讨用户的观点。特别是在中东国家，由于女性的生活和减肥干预需求不仅与西方大不相同，而且肥胖率也在呈指数级增长，因此，考虑到用户的文化背景，相关研究还很少。
本研究旨在通过超重和肥胖的沙特阿拉伯用户的经验和意见，探讨阿拉伯语减肥应用程序的建议功能，以便设计一款适合他们需求的手机应用程序。
采用目的抽样法，对 39 名年龄在 18 岁以上、拥有手机的超重和肥胖沙特女性志愿者进行了焦点小组讨论。下载了最常见的阿拉伯语和英语减肥移动应用程序，以启动关于应用程序使用的对话，并获取他们对理想减肥应用程序的看法以及它应包含的功能的意见。对所有转录和翻译的讨论进行了主题分析，按照讨论的每个主题进行分类，并确定了具体的引语。
共进行了 4 次焦点小组讨论，共有 39 名参与者。大多数参与者拥有一部安卓手机，只有少数参与者知道有健康相关的应用程序。减肥的障碍包括：动力、支持（社会和专业）、无聊的饮食、习俗和生活方式。为理想的减肥应用程序提出了不同的主题，包括：阿拉伯语和文化敏感；动机支持和社交网络；饮食和体育活动工具；以及可定制的、用户友好的界面。
本研究从用户的角度确定了减肥应用程序的功能，这在为该人群开发减肥应用程序时应予以考虑。
