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Usability and feasibility of PmEB: a mobile phone application for monitoring real time caloric balance

Authors:

Christopher C. Tsai,

Gregory J. Norman,

William G. Griswold,

Kevin PatrickAuthors Info & Claims

Mobile Networks and Applications, Volume 12, Issue 2-3

Pages 173 - 184

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11036-007-0014-4

Published: 01 March 2007 Publication History

Abstract

Obesity is a major public health challenge with over 65% of US adults either overweight or obese. Estimated annual costs of obesity are $78.5 billion. Self-monitoring is a critical skill for successful weight management. However, self-monitoring is labor-intensive, and compliance is often difficult. In this paper, the authors describe the Patient-Centered Assessment and Counseling Mobile Energy Balance (PmEB) mobile phone application that allows users to self-monitor caloric balance in real time. The application was developed and applied in a four-phase iterative research and development methodology. A usability study and a preliminary feasibility study were conducted. The 1 month feasibility study measured compliance and satisfaction among a sample of 15 participants randomized to one of three groups: (1) a paper diary group, (2) a PmEB group with one daily prompt, and (3) a PmEB group with three daily prompts. PmEB scored highly on usability, compliance, and satisfaction. In addition, mobile phone group users scored PmEB the same as or better than Paper Group members scored the paper diary in nearly all categories. Thematic analysis of comments revealed very positive reviews of PmEB as well as areas for improvement. PmEB is both usable and feasible for weight management self-monitoring, and the iterative pilot study methodology was effective in improving its usability.

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Cited By

Terzimehić NHuber JAragon-Hahner SMayer S(2024)Real-World Winds: Micro Challenges to Promote Balance Post Smartphone OverloadProceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642583(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642583
Lu XThomaz EEpstein D(2022)Understanding People's Perceptions of Approaches to Semi-Automated Dietary MonitoringProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/35502886:3(1-27)Online publication date: 7-Sep-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3550288
Moore JGoffin PWiese JMeyer M(2022)Exploring the Personal Informatics Analysis Gap: “There's a Lot of Bacon”IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics10.1109/TVCG.2021.311479828:1(96-106)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2022
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Usability and feasibility of PmEB: a mobile phone application for monitoring real time caloric balance

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cover image Mobile Networks and Applications

Mobile Networks and Applications Volume 12, Issue 2-3

March 2007

114 pages

ISSN:1383-469X

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Springer-Verlag

Berlin, Heidelberg

Publication History

Published: 01 March 2007

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Cited By

Terzimehić NHuber JAragon-Hahner SMayer S(2024)Real-World Winds: Micro Challenges to Promote Balance Post Smartphone OverloadProceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642583(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642583
Lu XThomaz EEpstein D(2022)Understanding People's Perceptions of Approaches to Semi-Automated Dietary MonitoringProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/35502886:3(1-27)Online publication date: 7-Sep-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3550288
Moore JGoffin PWiese JMeyer M(2022)Exploring the Personal Informatics Analysis Gap: “There's a Lot of Bacon”IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics10.1109/TVCG.2021.311479828:1(96-106)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TVCG.2021.3114798
M. Silva LA. Epstein D(2021)Investigating Preferred Food Description Practices in Digital Food JournalingProceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3461778.3462145(589-605)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3461778.3462145
Ryan KLinehan CDockray S(2021)Appropriation of Digital Tracking Tools in an Online Weight Loss Community: Individual and Shared ExperiencesProceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3461778.3462092(999-1014)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2021
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Epstein DCaldeira CFigueiredo MLu XSilva LWilliams LLee JLi QAhuja SChen QDowlatyari PHilby CSultana SEikey EChen Y(2020)Mapping and Taking Stock of the Personal Informatics LiteratureProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/34322314:4(1-38)Online publication date: 18-Dec-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3432231
Hezarjaribi NMazrouee SHemati SChaytor NPerrigue MGhasemzadeh H(2019)Human-in-the-loop Learning for Personalized Diet Monitoring from Unstructured Mobile DataACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems10.1145/33193709:4(1-24)Online publication date: 14-Nov-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3319370
Huang Z(2019)Developing Usability Heuristics for Recommendation Systems Within the Mobile ContextDesign, User Experience, and Usability. Practice and Case Studies10.1007/978-3-030-23535-2_10(143-151)Online publication date: 26-Jul-2019
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Oh HNguyen JSoundararajan SJain RBoll SJain RO'Connor NMcDaniel TMeyer J(2018)Multimodal Food JournalingProceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Multimedia for Personal Health and Health Care10.1145/3264996.3265000(39-47)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2018
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Visuri Avan Berkel NLuo CGoncalves JFerreira DKostakos VHall LTurner P(2017)Challenges of quantified-selfProceedings of the 31st British Computer Society Human Computer Interaction Conference10.14236/ewic/HCI2017.81(1-7)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2017
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