Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2020 Feb 24;20(1):40.
doi: 10.1186/s12911-020-1058-7.

Effectiveness of PUSH notifications from a mobile app for improving the body composition of overweight or obese women: a protocol of a three-armed randomized controlled trial

A Hernández-Reyes  1 , G Molina-Recio  2 , R Molina-Luque  2 , M Romero-Saldaña  3 , F Cámara-Martos  4 , R Moreno-Rojas  4
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effectiveness of PUSH notifications from a mobile app for improving the body composition of overweight or obese women: a protocol of a three-armed randomized controlled trial

A Hernández-Reyes et al. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. .

Abstract

Background: The penetration level of mobile technology has grown exponentially and is part of our lifestyle, at all levels. The use of the smartphone has opened up a new horizon of possibilities in the treatment of health, not in vain, around 40% of existing applications are linked to the mHealth segment. Taking advantage of this circumstance to study new approaches in the treatment of obesity and prescription of physical activity is growing interest in the field of health. The primary outcome (obese adult women) will be assessed according to age, fitness status, weight, and body composition status. Data will be collected at enrollment and weekly during 6 months of intervention on dietary practices, physical activity, anthropometry, and body composition. Analysis of effect will be performed comparing the outcomes between intervention and control arms. The message delivery is in progress.

Methods: A 3-arm clinical trial was established. A series of quantitative and qualitative measures were used to evaluate the effects of self-weighing and the establishment of objectives to be reached concerning the prescription of physical activity. At the end of this pilot study, a set of appropriate measures and procedures were identified and agreed upon to determine the effectiveness of messaging in the form of PUSH technology. The results were recorded and analyzed to begin a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.

Conclusions: The study is anticipated to establish feasibility of using PUSH notifications to evaluate whether or not an intervention of 6 months, directed by a team formed by Dietician-Nutritionist and nursing professionals, by means of an application for Smartphone and a personal consultation, improves the body composition of adult women with a fat percentage equal to or higher than 30% at the beginning of the study.

Trial registration: Clinical Trials ID: NCT03911583. First Submitted: April 9, 2019. Ethical oversight is provided by the Bioethical Committee of Córdoba University and registered in the platform clinicaltrials.gov. The results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and analysis data will be made public.

Keywords: Obesity; Physical activity; Weight management; mHealth.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of the participants
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Implementation of the PUSH notifications in the study design
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Screenshot of the APP developed for the research project (Nutrición Sur version 15.0.0)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
PUSH notifications architecture
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Porter J, Huggins C, Truby H, Collins J. The effect of using mobile technology-based methods that record food or nutrient intake on diabetes control and nutrition outcomes: a systematic review. Nutrients. 2016;8(12):815. doi: 10.3390/nu8120815. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Thurnheer SE, Gravestock I, Pichierri G, Steurer J, Burgstaller JM. Benefits of Mobile apps in pain management: systematic review. JMIR MHealth UHealth. 2018;6(10):e11231. doi: 10.2196/11231. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alonso-Arévalo J, Mirón-Canelo JA. Aplicaciones móviles en salud: potencial, normativa de seguridad y regulación. Revista Cubana de Información en Ciencias de la Salud (ACIMED) 2017;28(3):1–13.
    1. Gazdecki A. 9 Mobile Technology Trends For 2017 (Infographic). Bizness Apps. 2016 [citado 20 de septiembre de 2017]. Available in: https://www.biznessapps.com/blog/mobile-technology-trends/ [Accessed 15 Noviembre 2018].
    1. Eurostat. Digital economy and society statistics - households and individuals 2016. Available in: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ statistics-explained/index.php/Digital_economy_and_society_statistics_-_households_and_individuals [Accessed 15 Noviembre 2018].

Publication types

Associated data