Crowdsourcing for adolescent health: development and evaluation of a tool to collect data on the state and determinants of adolescent physical health

在青春期成长和工作的过程中，我们养成了一些行为，比如我们锻炼或饮食的多少，这些行为会影响我们的余生。需要研究来帮助我们了解哪些行为会使我们的健康变好或变坏，以及是什么影响了这些行为。有些行为更容易测量，我们的手机甚至有技术可以计算我们每天走了多少步。然而，其他行为更难以衡量，它们可能令人尴尬，或者对人们来说更难解释，因为它们与感觉有关。我们认为重要的是，人们可以在事情发生的时候记录下来（而不是试图在事后回忆起来）。健康研究人员需要能够从人们的生活中收集几种类型的数据，有人建议智能手机应用程序可能是一种实现这一目标的方法。应用程序已被用于研究，以帮助我们了解COVID等不同的疾病，但在这样的应用程序中，人们有理由拿起手机使用它——他们从中获得了非常明显的好处。因此，我们需要探索青少年使用健康应用程序的原因。我们已经从参与我们自己的研究或其他研究的年轻人那里听说，他们使用应用程序来跟踪身体活动、饮食和月经等。家长们也告诉我们，对青少年来说，追踪健康状况是手机的一个很好的用途。我们想知道，当某件事改善或恶化了他们的健康状况，或者改变了他们的行为时，人们是否会有动力使用这款应用来报告。我们的想法是，通过与其他年轻人分享有关改善或降低他们健康状况的地方或情况的信息，年轻人将成为公民科学家。收集到的信息成为证据，与做决定的人分享，比如校长或政治家，这样地方或情况就会改善，每个人都能更健康。我们还将确保该应用程序易于使用，只询问适当的问题。该应用程序需要保持信息的私密性，并安全地与研究人员共享数据。在项目过程中,我们将开发这些应用和年轻人和父母的不同特性,以确保它符合人们想要什么,会用在适当的地方是有趣的但也严重并在需要的时候安慰,我们明白健康数据是很重要的人,我们想让人们感到舒适使用这个程序,我们将开始处理小组的来自不同地方的年轻人和背景,以确保应用程序适合很多人。最终，我们将在学校和社区对这款应用进行大规模测试。我们将组织活动，让许多年轻人分享他们的想法和想法，称为“黑客马拉松”和“设计果酱”，帮助设计这款应用。年轻人还将决定这款应用的名称。然后，这款应用将被用于研究，帮助我们了解如何帮助改善健康。年轻人自己也将成为科学家，能够审查和使用他们自己的数据来改善他们的健康和福祉，并使他们生活、学习和工作的地方更健康。

While growing up through adolescence and going on to get work we develop behaviours, like how much we exercise or eat, that impact on the rest of our lives. Research is needed to help us understand what behaviours change our health for better or worse, and what influences those behaviours. Some behaviours are easier to measure, and we even have technology in our phones that can count how many steps we do each day. However, other behaviours are more difficult to measure, they might be embarrassing or harder for people to explain because they relate to feelings. We think it's important that people can record things at the time they happen (rather trying to recall them later). Health researchers need to be able to collect several types of data from people as they go about their lives, and it has been recommended that smartphone apps might be a way to do this.Apps have been used in research to help us understand different diseases like COVID but in apps like these, people have a reason to pick up the phone and use it - they get a very clear benefit from it. So, we need to explore the reasons a teenager would use a health app. We have already heard from young people taking part in our own research or other studies that they use apps to track physical activity, diet, and periods, for example. Parents have also told us that tracking health is a good use of a phone for teenagers. We want to know if people would be motivated to use the app to report when something makes their health better or worse, or changes their behaviour. Our idea is that by sharing information with other young people about places or situations that improve or reduce their health, young people will become citizen scientists. The information collected becoming evidence to share with people who make decisions like head teachers or politicians, so that the places or situations improve, and everyone can be healthier.We will also make sure that the app is easy and quick to use, only asking appropriate questions. The app will need to keep the information private and safely share the data with researchers. During the project we will develop these different features of the app with young people and parents to make sure it fits with what people want and would use, being fun where appropriate but also serious and reassuring where required - we understand that health data is important to people and we want people to feel comfortable using this app. We will start by working with small groups of young people from different places and backgrounds to make sure the app works for lots of people. Eventually we will run big tests of the app with schools and communities. Events will be organised for lots of young people to share their thoughts and ideas, called hack-a-thons and design jams, helping to design the app. Young people will also decide on a name for the app. The app will then be used in research studies to help us learn how to help improve health. The young people themselves will also be scientists able to review and use their own data to improve their health and wellbeing, and make where they live, study and work healthier places.