BigO
BigO was an EU funded research project that involved students in secondary schools in Ireland and children and teenagers aged 9-16 years on the W82GO programme.
In this study we asked children and teenagers to use smartwatches to measure their physical activity levels and to use a smartphone application to help understand eating behaviours and capture how much food advertising they are exposed to. In this way young people were involved in this research as ‘citizen scientists’ as they were collecting this information for the research team. The information collected by participants is important because it may help us to treat future patients with obesity better and it could help advise public health authorities on how to develop and plan effective programmes and policies in an attempt to reduce childhood obesity.
Being involved as ‘citizen scientists’ in this research could also have the following benefits for the young people and families who participated:
- A greater awareness of personal eating behaviours through photographing meals, snacks and drinks.
- A greater awareness of the amount and type of food advertising he/she is exposed to each day.
- A greater awareness of the amount of physical activity that he/she gets.
The research team at CHI Temple Street are very grateful to all the families and schools who participated in the BigO project from 2018 to 2021:
For more information please see the BigO website: https://bigoprogram.eu/
Below you can find a list of BigO scientific publications from members of the W82GO team:
ECOICO2020: BigO abstracts video presentations: https://bigoprogram.eu/news/ecoico2020-big-o-poster-presentations/
Arthurs N, Browne S, Boardman R, O’Donnell S, Doyle G, Kechadi T, Case L, Tully L, O’Malley G. EP-432 The BigO application: Usability and engagement among adolescents and children with obesity. European and International Congress on Obesity 2020; Online: Obesity Reviews; 2020. p. 251.
O’Donnell S, Doyle G, O’Malley G, Browne S, Mars M, Kechadi T. EP-557 Establishing consensus on key public health indicators for the monitoring and evaluation of childhood obesity interventions: A Delphi Panel Study. European and International Congress on Obesity 2020; Online: Obesity Reviews; 2020. p. 322.
Dowdall G, Browne S, Barton H, O’Malley G. EP-483 A qualitative study exploring user needs for a smartphone app among adolescents and parents attending a paediatric obesity clinic. European and International Congress on Obesity 2020; Online: Obesity Reviews; 2020. p. 280.
Browne S, Boardman R, Arthurs N, O’Donnell S, Doyle G, Kechadi T, Case L, Tully L, O’Malley G. EP-494 A clinical portal for childhood obesity management: acceptability and usability among healthcare professionals. European and International Congress on Obesity 2020; Online: Obesity Reviews; 2020. p. 286.
Browne S, Kechadi MT, O’Donnell S, Dow M, Tully L, Doyle G, O’Malley G. Mobile Health Apps in Pediatric Obesity Treatment: Process Outcomes From a Feasibility Study of a Multicomponent Intervention. JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth; 2020 Jul;8(7):e16925. DOI: 10.2196/16925.
O’Donnell S, Doyle G, O’Malley G, Browne S, O’Connor J, Mars M, Kechadi T. Establishing consensus on key public health indicators for the monitoring and evaluating childhood obesity interventions: a Delphi panel study. BMC Public Health; 2020; 20(1): p. 1733.
Browne S, O’Donnell S, Tully L, Dow M, O’Connor J, Kechadi T, Doyle G, O’Malley G. Mobile health (mHealth) applications with children in treatment for obesity: A randomised feasibility study. In FENS 13th European Nutrition Conference. October 2019.