TeenPower: e-Empowering Teenagers to Prevent Obesity

Transdisciplinary practice-based action research project that aims to develop innovative interventions to promote healthy behaviors. Project called from a territorial issue, identified and discussed with local stakeholders (health professionals and school community), in the absence of an integrated, creative and dynamic strategy of overweight prevention and promotion of salutogenic behaviors in adolescents.

Adolescent obesity has reached epidemic proportions, being urgent to find effective prevention strategies and adequate resources that induce change at the individual, family and community level. The core components of classic prevention programs have been unable to obtain the desired adherence. The solution may involve a more extensive and frequent contact with the healthcare team and the use of alternative communication channels and interacting/dynamic technologies with adolescents.

Given the research team's experience in developing innovative products and healthcare technological solutions, this need was faced as an opportunity to network and explore synergies between territorial partners. The polytechnics of Leiria (IPL), Santarém (IPS) and Castelo Branco (IPCB) are co-promotors of this project, as well as the Município de Leiria (City Council). It is also expected the partnership with the local primary healthcare stakeholders (Administração Regional de Saúde do Centro: ARS-C), key partners in the development phase and in the implementation of the intervention program. An agile product development process will be adopted, an iterative and incremental approach for planning and implementing, in an intense and permanent dialogue with healthcare professionals, and adolescents throughout the platform and the mobile app development process.

The main goal is the development, implementation and evaluation of a program for the promotion of healthy behaviors and prevention of obesity in adolescence, based on e-therapy and sustained by the case management methodology. The project is directed to the cognitive-behavioral empowerment of adolescents, through increased and interactive contact between adolescents and multidisciplinary healthcare team. The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the intervention can optimize resources and maximize impact, as a complement to conventional approaches, The project includes the development of three complementary studies: (S1) evaluation of adolescents' health status and cognitive-behavioral indicators, (S2) usability evaluation of the TeenPower platform and mobile app (S3) implementation and adherence evaluation to the TeenPower intervention program.

The positive evaluation of the intervention program will stimulate the inclusion of ICT in the promotion of salutogenic behaviors and overweight prevention, creating technological interfaces that will allow customizing the intervention parameters and facilitating the monitoring and tracking.