Lewis Emma C, Zhu Siyao, Oladimeji Ayoyemi T, Igusa Takeru, Martin Nina M, Poirier Lisa, Trujillo Antonio J, Reznar Melissa M, Gittelsohn Joel
Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Department of Civil and Systems Engineering, Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Mhealth. 2023 Nov 3;10:2. doi: 10.21037/mhealth-23-30. eCollection 2024.
Under-resourced urban minority communities in the United States are characterized by food environments with low access to healthy foods, high food insecurity, and high rates of diet-related chronic disease. In Baltimore, Maryland, low access to healthy food largely results from a distribution gap between small food sources (retailers) and their suppliers. Digital interventions have the potential to address this gap, while keeping costs low.
In this paper, we describe the technical (I) front-end design and (II) back-end development process of the Baltimore Urban food Distribution (BUD) application (app). We identify and detail four main phases of the process: (I) information architecture; (II) low and high-fidelity wireframes; (III) prototype; and (IV) back-end components, while considering formative research and a pre-pilot test of a preliminary version of the BUD app.
Our lessons learned provide valuable insight into developing a stable app with a user-friendly experience and interface, and accessible cloud computing services for advanced technical features.
Next steps will involve a pilot trial of the app in Baltimore, and eventually, other urban and rural settings nationwide. Once iterative feedback is incorporated into the app, all code will be made publicly available via an open source repository to encourage adaptation for desired communities.
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05010018.
美国资源匮乏的城市少数族裔社区的特点是，其食物环境存在健康食品获取渠道有限、食品严重不安全以及饮食相关慢性病发病率高的问题。在马里兰州的巴尔的摩，健康食品获取渠道有限很大程度上是由于小型食品供应源（零售商）与其供应商之间存在配送差距。数字干预措施有潜力解决这一差距，同时保持低成本。
在本文中，我们描述了巴尔的摩城市食品配送（BUD）应用程序（应用）的技术（I）前端设计和（II）后端开发过程。我们确定并详细说明了该过程的四个主要阶段：（I）信息架构；（II）低保真和高保真线框图；（III）原型；以及（IV）后端组件，同时考虑了形成性研究和BUD应用程序初步版本的预试点测试。
我们吸取的经验教训为开发一款具有用户友好体验和界面的稳定应用程序以及为高级技术功能提供可访问的云计算服务提供了宝贵的见解。
下一步将在巴尔的摩对该应用程序进行试点试验，最终在全国其他城乡地区进行。一旦将迭代反馈纳入该应用程序，所有代码将通过开源存储库公开提供，以鼓励为目标社区进行调整。
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05010018。
