Objectives

The main aim in the pilot is to strengthen the collaboration among the stakeholders operating in the various areas of prevention and treatment of childhood obesity and to co-create a mobile app sponsored by the Reggio Emilia Local Health Authority and addressed to all families with children aged between 0-13 years.

Learnings

In Italy, about 30% of 8-year-old children are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity is one of the major risk factors for adult obesity and diabetes but also has consequences for the child’s health and well-being. This makes childhood obesity prevention a strategic priority in public health, with potential high impact in the medium and long term.

In Italy, a country famous around the globe for its diet and food, the problem of obesity and overweight is still consistent, especially among children. In Reggio Emilia, epidemiologists and pediatricians have been working closely to face the problem of childhood obesity. The first survey provided by the Local Health Authority of Reggio Emilia started in 2011 to understand the transformations of weight according to the age of the child and habits. An overweight child, even two or three years old, tends to turn into obese in a few years if he/she does not change the habits that contribute to gain kilograms. It should be noted that a child who is 6 and is obese has a 50% chance of becoming an obese adult, with serious implications for her/his health,

After having analysed the problem in Reggio Emilia, an intervention project started in collaboration with all the family pediatricians. This experience led to propose an App as a tool to make counselling more effective and allowing longer follow up. A child health promotion-oriented App was indeed the main objective of the Reggio Emilia pilot project.

The guiding idea of the Local Health Authority, as a Public Health Unit, is to implement effective interventions, for obtaining positive and suitable effects on all citizens. For this reason, every initiative is carefully studied, and then in its implementation those who work in the field are involved. Only collaborating in this way one can be sure to develop strategies that have a real effect.

Prevention of obesity cannot be afforded only by the health service. In Reggio Emilia a co-creation process started with the establishment of the Consulting Committee that met regularly and allowed us to embed into the App and in the whole system organization different visions on how to afford the theme of childhood obesity and the tools for its prevention. The numbers of its members, coming from professionals in numerous fields, policy makers, civil society organisations, increased over the time and remains open for new members. Participation of the stakeholders in the Consulting Committee showed a good behavior towards the co-creation process.

In this article we described in depth the process and the tools used to co-create the App. Giorgi Rossi P, Ferrari F, Amarri S, Bassi A, Bonvicini L, et Al; “Describing the Process and Tools Adopted to Co-create a Smartphone App for Obesity Prevention in Childhood: Mixed Method Study“. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2020 Jun 8;8(6):e16165. Doi: 10.2196/16165. PMID: 32357123; PMCID: PMC7308901

Read more about the pilot at the Cosie project homepage.