Alturki Ryan, Gay Valerie
School of Electrical and Data Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Department of Information Science, College of Computers and Information Systems, Umm Al-Qura University, Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
JMIR Form Res. 2019 Mar 14;3(1):e11785. doi: 10.2196/11785.
Obesity and its related illnesses are a major health problem around the world. Saudi Arabia has one of the highest national obesity rates globally; however, it is not easy to intervene to prevent obesity and becoming overweight owing to Saudi Arabia's cultural and social norms, and linguistic barriers. In recent years, there has been an exponential growth in the usage of smartphones and apps in Saudi Arabia. These could be used as a cost-effective tool to facilitate the delivery of behavior-modification interventions for obese and overweight people. There are a variety of health and fitness apps that claim to offer lifestyle-modification tools. However, these do not identify the motivational features required to overcome obesity, consider the evidence-based practices for weight management, or enhance the usability of apps by considering usability attributes.
This study aimed to explore the opportunity and the need to develop an Arabic weight-loss app that provides localized content and addresses the issues with existing apps identified here. This study has explained the steps taken to design an Arabic weight-loss app that was developed to facilitate the adjustment of key nutritional and physical activities and behaviors, which considers the social and cultural norms of Saudi Arabia.
Qualitative studies were conducted with 26 obese Saudi Arabians, who tested the level of usability of 2 weight-loss apps and then provided feedback and recommendations. The app Akser Waznk is an interactive, user-friendly app designed primarily for iPhones. It has several features intended to assist users to monitor and track their food consumption and physical activities. The app provides personalized diet and weight loss advice. Unique features such as Let's Walk are designed to motivate users to walk more. An augmented reality function is implemented to provide information regarding fitness equipment, fruits, and vegetables. The app uses behavior-change techniques to increase activities and healthy behaviors and evidence-informed practices for weight-loss management. The Akser Waznk app considers user privacy and data security by applying a number of guidelines and procedures.
The development of the app took 26 months. In all, 7 experts (5 dietitians, and 2 physical activity professionals) evaluated the app's contents. Moreover, 10 potential users (5 men and 5 women) tested the app's level of usability, its features, and performance during a pilot study. They reported that the app's design is interactive, and the motivational features are user-friendly.
Mobile technology, such as mobile apps, has the potential to be an effective tool that facilitates the changing of unhealthy lifestyle behaviors within the Saudi community. To be successful, the target group, the usability, motivational features, and social and cultural norms must be considered.
肥胖及其相关疾病是全球主要的健康问题。沙特阿拉伯是全球肥胖率最高的国家之一；然而，由于沙特阿拉伯的文化和社会规范以及语言障碍，对肥胖和超重进行干预预防并非易事。近年来，沙特阿拉伯智能手机和应用程序的使用呈指数级增长。这些可以用作一种经济高效的工具，为肥胖和超重人群提供行为改变干预措施。有各种各样的健康和健身应用程序声称提供生活方式改变工具。然而，这些应用程序并未识别克服肥胖所需的激励特性，未考虑体重管理的循证实践，也未通过考虑可用性属性来提高应用程序的可用性。
本研究旨在探索开发一款阿拉伯语减肥应用程序的机会和必要性，该应用程序提供本地化内容并解决此处所识别的现有应用程序的问题。本研究解释了设计一款阿拉伯语减肥应用程序所采取的步骤，该应用程序旨在促进关键营养和身体活动及行为的调整，同时考虑沙特阿拉伯的社会和文化规范。
对26名肥胖的沙特阿拉伯人进行了定性研究，他们测试了两款减肥应用程序的可用性水平，然后提供反馈和建议。Akser Waznk应用程序是一款交互式、用户友好的应用程序，主要为iPhone设计。它有几个功能，旨在帮助用户监测和跟踪他们的食物摄入和身体活动。该应用程序提供个性化的饮食和减肥建议。诸如“一起散步”这样的独特功能旨在激励用户多走路。还实现了增强现实功能，以提供有关健身器材、水果和蔬菜的信息。该应用程序使用行为改变技术来增加活动和健康行为，并采用循证实践进行体重管理。Akser Waznk应用程序通过应用一些指导方针和程序来考虑用户隐私和数据安全。
该应用程序的开发耗时26个月。共有7名专家（5名营养师和2名体育活动专业人员）对该应用程序的内容进行了评估。此外，10名潜在用户（5名男性和5名女性）在一项试点研究中测试了该应用程序的可用性水平、功能和性能。他们报告说，该应用程序的设计具有交互性，激励功能对用户友好。
移动技术，如移动应用程序，有可能成为一种有效的工具，促进沙特社区内不健康生活方式行为的改变。要取得成功，必须考虑目标群体、可用性、激励功能以及社会和文化规范。
