Pactster: Improving adherence to specialist exercise for better physical and emotional health in adults with Cystic Fibrosis

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"Pactster is a community-based exercise platform for people with specific health conditions. We offer condition-specific exercise videos and community support, including online group exercise, to encourage people to exercise more for better physical and emotional health. As an initial target market we have chosen cystic fibrosis (CF), a disease affecting over 10,000 people in the UK, with annual costs of at least £24,000/patient. We chose CF due to profound impact regular exercise can have on the management of the disease and the unique barrier they face in not being able to meet in person for fear of cross-infection (meaning group exercise classes are out of the question). In the 12 months since launching our product to the CF market we have had extremely encouraging response from people with the disease (have acquired 3% of the UK market), their carers, clinicians and the wider community both in the UK and beyond. It's a great start, however one of the key challenges we face is improving exercise adherence and motivating users to do more exercise. To speed up the pace at which we can overcome this challenge and start significantly improving the lives of people with CF we propose a 12 month project to research, design, implement, test and evaluate three technology interventions with the primary aim of increasing the amount of exercise people with CF are doing. With a team of technology, health and marketing experts, specifically in the field of cystic fibrosis, and backed by advisors and strategic partnerships who will provide support during the project, we are perfectly positioned to conduct a successful and meaningful feasibility study into how technological innovations can be used to increase exercise adherence. The outcome of this project has the potential to have a powerful impact on the lives of people with CF and as a result reduce costs to the NHS in treating the disease. Moreover, the impact will continue to be felt by people with other health conditions (breast and prostate cancer, HIV and diabetes to name but a few) as we roll out Pactster out across the health sector in the UK and worldwide."