Healthy lifestyle for low literate teenagers (LIFTS)

Learning disabilities, low (health) literacy, behavioural problems, and growing up in a low socio-economic environment increase the challenges that practice education (PrO) students (12-18 yrs, IQ: 50-80) face in adopting a healthy lifestyle. Medical devices, like health apps that combine physical data tracking technology with gamification and personalised feedback, hold great potential for health improvement in this group. Yet, knowledge on how to effectively design and apply this technology for and with low literate teenagers is currently lacking. Therefore, LIFTS joins forces from the behavioural, nutritional, and technical sciences to deliver, together with partners in the field, innovative health technology tailored to the PrO context.

For this purpose, four living labs have been established, centred around four PrO schools, in which the research activities with and for PrO students, along with teachers, caretakers, designers, policy makers, and researchers, take place. The main research question ‘How to promote, in a participatory way, sustainable healthy living in PrO students with the use of accessible, acceptable and engaging technology?’ will be answered with qualitative and quantitative methods and will result in highly needed knowledge and tools that can bring a substantial societal impact.