Making Space a better Place: Just In Time Adaptive Interventions for Healthy Lifestyles

Summary

Just In Time Adaptive Interventions (JITAI) are a class of applications that provide tailored support at the right time and place to help people to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This paper presents the initial version of a JITAI application that helps users to make healthy food choices when walking in an urban environment. The app provides interventions based on location, time, and user characteristics. It adapts its interventions based on the type and goal of a user. The JITAI consist of an app for a mobile phone and a backend server. Using the backend, decision points and interventions can be managed as well as users. Moreover, it stores tracks and intervention data. A two-phased experiment will be set-up. The first phase will test the robustness and functionality of the application with a limited number of users. Based on this, the app will be adapted. The second phase will test the effectiveness of the different type of interventions by involving a large user group.