Caminamos: A location-based Smartphone App for Latinas to Connect with Nearby Walking Partners

 描述(由申请人提供)：拉丁裔之间的健康差距很大。与非西班牙裔白人相比，他们更有可能超重，被诊断患有糖尿病，身体不活跃。因此，旨在改善拉丁裔获得保健机会和改善慢性病的干预措施具有高度的公共卫生重要性。有规律的身体活动(PA)促进身体和情绪的健康，但PA为拉丁裔量身定做的干预措施仍然有限。现有数据表明，以社区为重点的干预措施可改善体力活动，并受到拉丁裔的欢迎，特别是在考虑到社会和物质环境(如社会支持、安全步行区域等)的情况下。研究表明，拉美裔人对以技术为基础的健康干预措施反应良好。近90%的拉丁裔拥有手机；60%拥有智能手机。因此，能够在利用首选技术来源(例如智能手机)的同时满足拉丁美洲人对其自然和社会环境的偏好的健康促进干预措施可能被证明是非常成功的。智能手机的一个功能是基于位置的服务(LBS)，它提供了巨大的潜在健康促进好处。LBS使用地理定位来帮助用户连接到他们周围的环境和其他用户，从而为他们提供实时的、用户特定的信息。这个名为“Caminamos！”的项目将开发一款面向18-45岁拉丁裔的智能手机应用程序，该应用程序使用LBS将地理位置较近的社区中的女性联系起来，为步行行为增加提供社会支持。具体目标是：(1)收集专家咨询委员会(EAB)的意见和评估反馈，以帮助规划和评估创建该应用程序的可行性；(2)建立联系，并收集拉丁裔社区领袖的意见，以通过社区咨询委员会(CAB)协助该应用程序的概念开发；(3)对拉丁裔美国人的全国样本进行在线调查，调查他们在智能手机上对健康促进的使用情况，以及对社交网络和LBS技术功能的兴趣；(4)与18-45岁的拉丁裔人开展迭代焦点小组，以指导应用程序内容、设计和美学的开发，以充分开发功能原型；以及(5)与拉丁语进行可用性测试，以测试应用程序建立用户位置并通过Caminamos连接用户的准确性。系统和用户对应用程序的使用和满意度。很少有基于应用程序的保健品是针对拉丁裔的。卡米纳莫斯！将解决市场上这一未得到满足的需求。这将是第一款使用基于位置的社交网络来推广PA的智能手机应用，也是唯一一款针对拉丁裔的同类应用。它还将扩大已知在拉丁裔锻炼参与方面取得成功的内容，同时解决锻炼的关键障碍。第一阶段的结果将为开发全面的APP提供必要的框架和数据，以便在随机临床试验中进行测试。在第三阶段，我们计划销售…卡米纳摩斯！与一家公司合作，直接面向消费者，该公司有兴趣将他们的品牌推广到拉美裔人口。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Health disparities are high among Latinas. They are more likely to be overweight, diagnosed with diabetes, and physically inactive compared to their non-Hispanic White counterparts. Thus, interventions that target improving health access and ameliorating chronic diseases among Latinas are of high public health importance. Regular physical activity (PA) promotes physical and emotional well-being, yet PA interventions tailored for Latinas remain limited. Available data suggest that community-focused interventions produce improvements in physical activity (PA) and are well-received by Latinas especially when social and physical environments are considered (e.g., social support, safe walking areas, etc.). Research suggests that Latinos respond favorably to technological-based health interventions. Almost 90 percent of Latinos own a cellphone; 60 percent own a smartphone. Thus, health promotion interventions that can address Latinos' preferences regarding their physical and social environments while utilizing a preferred technology source (e.g., smartphone) could prove highly successful. One smartphone feature that offers great potential health promotion benefit is location- based services (LBS). LBS use geographic positioning to help users connect to their surrounding environment and to other users, thus providing them with real-time, user-specific information. This proposed project, ¡Caminamos!, will develop a smartphone app for use with 18-45 year old Latinas that uses LBS to connect women within geographically proximal neighborhoods as a way to provide social support for increased walking behaviors. Specific aims are: (1) gather input and evaluative feedback from an Expert Advisory Board (EAB) to help plan and assess the feasibility of creating the app; (2) build connections and gather input from Latino community leaders to assist in the conceptual development of the app through a Community Advisory Board (CAB); (3) conduct an online survey of a national sample of Latinas on their smartphone usage for health promotion, and interest in social networking and LBS technology features; (4) conduct iterative focus groups with Latinas age 18-45 years to guide development of app content, design, and aesthetics to fully develop a functioning prototype; and (5) conduct usability testing with Latinas to test the app's accuracy to establish users' location and connect users through the ¡Caminamos! system and users' use and satisfaction with the app. Few app-based health products are branded towards Latinas. ¡Caminamos! will address this unmet need in the marketplace. It will be the first smartphone app that uses location-based social networking to promote PA, and the only app of its kind targeted to Latinas. It will also expand upon what is known to be successful in Latino exercise engagement while simultaneously addressing key barriers to exercise. Phase I outcomes will provide the necessary framework and data for developing a full-scale app to be tested in a randomized clinical trial. In Phase III, we plan to market ¡Caminamos! directly to consumers in partnership with a company interested in expanding their brand outreach to a Latina population.