Periodic Reporting for period 2 - STOP (STop Obesity Platform)
Reporting period: 2021-03-01 to 2023-02-28
The STOP project brings together an interdisciplinary and intersectoral group of subject matter experts from industry and academia under one umbrella, to address the health societal challenge of obesity with the specific objectives of mitigating the enormous and growing Health Care costs of obesity and related health issues that burden European citizens. Within the project runtime, the following research and innovation objectives will be addressed:
o Establishing a data and Knowledge Ecosystem as a basis for the STOP Portal to enable healthcare professionals in decision support, and obese persons in analysis and feedback of health information to optimise healthy nutrition.
o Provision of exposed interfaces to capture additional personal exercise and nutrition information and provide intelligent interactive communication with users. Process and manage streamed health data from PwO.
o Access to information from a broad range of relevant knowledge bases to support the decision-making of healthcare professionals.
The initial version of the STOP platform was demonstrated and evaluated in a feasibility study, which helped the team determine areas for improvement. Based on the results of the study, a second, improved version of the platform was developed. This new version introduced new features to the platform's web application, such as a mobile application that allowed users to interact with the STOP portal using their smartphones. The STOP Fitness Manager mobile app makes it easier for users to manage their progress and fitness data, providing a quick and convenient way to stay on top of their health goals. The partners were also working closely with each other to implement shared authentication and authorization and to ensure that users have access to their own databases. The collaboration has been instrumental in integrating all independent systems and services under one architecture and user interface. This has created a more unified and streamlined platform that provides users with a consistent experience across all of its features and services.
Furthermore, the platform uses machine learning algorithms to analyze the imported fitness data and offer personalized health recommendations through a chatbot interface. In the second release, users don’t need to be redirected to the chatbot platform to start the conversation with the AI bot. They can interact with the bot directly through a pop-up window. The chatbot, in collaboration with healthcare professionals, provides users with customized nutrition and exercise plans to help them reach their fitness goals. With these enhanced features and functionalities, the STOP portal serves as an all-in-one platform for individuals to manage their fitness data and improve their overall health and wellness.
Finally, gamification is applied to avoid dropout from activities and to perform a correct lifestyle and its conservation. The gamification app was designed and developed with the goal of providing visual feedback to users on their progress in developing healthy habits that impact their health and reduce weight problems. The development process followed several phases, starting with the ideation of the app's features. In the second phase, the app was developed as a first prototype using the Stelt framework and included features such as visualizing the user's progress through an evolving picture and providing goals for the user on parameters like water intake, steps taken, calories burned, and consumed. The app also included an educational game to rank foods based on their calorie content. In the third phase, the app was developed with the Flutter framework, connected to the backend services, and included different forms of the original game aimed at educating the user on macronutrients in a healthy diet. With these improvements, the STOP platform is well-positioned to help individuals with obesity achieve their health goals and live healthier lives.