Background
Healthy eating, physical activity, and sleep habits established in childhood are important for healthy growth and wellbeing. However, it remains challenging to connect, engage, and sustain involvement with children and families in health behaviour change programs. Innovative and accessible approaches are required to overcome barriers to participation. ‘Design thinking’, which includes co-design elements, and behaviour change theory can support a creative, people-oriented, and evidence-informed approach to program development.
Aims
The project aims to co-design, develop, and evaluate an interactive online program to enable Queensland children aged 5-12 years and their families to move towards sustainable health promoting behaviour change, in the context of childhood obesity prevention.
Processes
Design thinking principles and the Integrative Model of Behaviour Change (IMBC) were applied throughout the development of Podsquad, a play-based wellbeing app by Health and Wellbeing Queensland. Design thinking workshops, underpinned by IMBC, were conducted at project inception with children and families, cross-sector partners, and multidisciplinary experts. Co-design guided the creative and technical development phases, and IMBC constructs informed the content strategy.
Outcomes
More than 300 Queensland families participated in co-design activities across Podsquad’s development. Taking an iterative design thinking approach allowed the program to adapt to consumer and expert feedback and enabled the delivery of a purpose-built app that meets users’ needs and expectations. Applying a behaviour change framework supported the evidence-informed approach to program design.
Conclusions
Applying design thinking and IMBC principles to a public health challenge is an innovative approach that supported Podsquad’s development as an accessible, scalable, and engaging program addressing healthy eating, physical activity and sleep. Further studies will evaluate the program’s feasibility, reach, and engagement, and identify opportunities to strengthen its content and delivery. Future focus areas include delivering co-designed actions for priority communities and populations, and cross-sector collaboration to enable system and service integration.