SHB: Small: Social Tools for Everyday Adolescent Health

在21世纪的美国，越来越多的超重和肥胖青少年是一个关键的健康挑战。自20世纪80年代以来，超重青少年的比例翻了一番，肥胖青少年的比例翻了三倍；青少年肥胖现在是成人肥胖的最大预测因素。与此同时，青少年将越来越多的时间花在电子游戏和社交网站上，将计算融入到他们的休闲和社交活动中。该项目利用计算机技术，通过开发和研究社会工具，促进青少年持续的日常健康习惯，来解决青少年肥胖问题。这项研究展示了社交计算如何能够使线下的健康行为成为可能，与“自上而下”的方法相比，它利用同伴作为激励因素。这项工作是与迪卡尔布县学校合作进行的，迪卡尔布县学校是乔治亚州最具城市特色的学区，也是以研究为重点的项目的主要获奖者。该项目的研究是探索各种社会计算工具和功能对基于我们以前的工作和最佳实践的一组经过验证的结果度量的影响。在学年期间，该项目为两所中学的八年级学生部署了一系列基于计步器的社会健康应用程序和游戏。在部署周期之间的夏季，一小部分参与者参加下一学年的设计会议。研究主要集中在三个方面：1。网络社会身份呈现在内在动机中的作用。社会计算干预促进线下仪式和习惯的能力。集体经验的影响。这项研究将有助于我们理解社交媒体活动与线下行为之间的联系。它还将显示青少年健康行为和态度的改善。此外，通过深化亚特兰大迪卡尔布学校系统和佐治亚理工学院之间的联系，该项目丰富了这些中学生的教育环境。

The increasing numbers of overweight and obese adolescents is a key health challenge in 21st centuryAmerica. Since the 1980s, rates of overweight adolescents have doubled, and rates of obese adolescentshave tripled; adolescent obesity is now the single biggest predictor of adult obesity. At the same time,adolescents are spending increasing portions of their lives interacting with video games and socialnetwork sites, incorporating computing into their leisure and social communication practices on a largescale. This project uses computing technology to address adolescent obesity through thedevelopment and study of social tools to promote sustained everyday healthy practices by adolescents.The research demonstrates how social computingcan enable offline healthy behaviors, using peers as motivators in contrast to "top-down"approaches. The work is in partnership with DeKalb County Schools, Georgia'smost urban school district and a leading awardee of research-focused programs.Research in this project is exploring the effects of various social computingtools and features on a set of validated outcome measures grounded in our previous work and bestpractices. During the school year the project deploys a series of pedometer-based social healthapplications and games for 8th graders in two middle schools. In the summers between deployment cycles, a small subset of participants takes part in design sessions for the next school year.Research focuses on three main topics:1. The role of online social identity presentation in intrinsic motivation.2. The ability of social computing interventions to facilitate offline rituals and habits.3. The impact of collective experiences.This research will contribute to our understanding of the connections between socialmedia activity and offline behavior. It will also demonstrate improvements in health behaviors and attitudes for adolescents. Moreover by deepening the connection between theDekalb School System in Atlanta and Georgia Tech, the project enriches the educational environmentof these middle school students.