Grant: Project Grant

Background: Obesity and the linked cardiovascular risk factors are common in youth, and are associated with health problems later in life. Changing health behaviours is effective in reducing risk factors, but hard to implement. The Living Green and Healthy for Teens app has been rigorously developed as an evidence-based, user-friendly, stakeholder-reviewed tool to facilitate healthy behaviour change. Goals: This research will determine whether the gamified LiGHT app for youth and parents will improve healthy eating and activity habits among 10-15 year-olds over 2 years. It will also determine the effects on body fat, weight, fitness, quality of life, as well as parents' eating and activity habits. Methods and expertise: 500 youth from the Hamilton community who have at least one smartphone in the family will be randomly assigned to receive either the interactive gamified LiGHT app which has both youth and parent interfaces, or a simple list of online resources (control). Visits at 6 months, 1 and 2 years will evaluate questionnaires on food intake, screen and sleep time, as well as 1 week of movement sensor (accelerometry) data to quantify physical activity and sedentary time. The research team has expertise in recruitment and retention among cohorts of youth, as well as successful completion of large randomized trials, and development and community-based implementation of behavioural interventions for obesity treatment and prevention. Expected outcomes: Many health apps are either not developed based on evidence or are not engaging for users, and very few are studied systematically for their effectiveness in improving health, especially among youth. This trial will evaluate the fairly long-term use of an app that has been developed in Canada based on these principles. If effective, wide dissemination on a population scale through simple electronic channels will facilitate improved cardiovascular risk profiles for any family with access to a smartphone.