Inclusive Online Interactive Platform for Parents in Rural Settings to Promote Healthy Habits

Project Summary/Abstract Minnesota HealthSolutions Corporation (MHS) in collaboration with Mayo Clinic (Mayo) proposes to develop a Parent Health Promoter digital platform to prompt and support positive behavior change for rural families. The development of the proposed platform is particularly needed for rural populations who have higher rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and rural residents are more likely to be physically inactive compared to their urban counterparts. Health promoting behaviors have a significant impact on many health outcomes, including overweight and obesity in childhood and other non-communicable diseases. Yet rural populations have less access to direct health care resources. Together, MHS and the Mayo will utilize iterative feedback from the intended user population, to develop a platform based on both theory and practice that utilizes best practices in user interface development. The needs of the intended population will be considered throughout the development process and in phase I, a prototype of the platform will be tested with the intended population for usability and acceptability. We have assembled a team with complimentary expertise to develop the content, user interface and platform, and to conduct the needed testing.