Using mobile technology to improve the health of adolescents: A feasibility study

Purpose: This original research aims to inform the development of a Mobile Research App (MRA), which can be used to collect data on adolescent health risk behavior and deliver appropriate interventions and/or decision-making tools. Materials and Methods: We used qualitative market research methods (youth focus groups, parent-guardian/youth demographic survey) to assess the feasibility of using mobile technology to collect data about major factors related to adolescent use of mobile technology. Adolescents (n=39) were provided with a prototype of our MRA. They used the MRA to input individual demographic data and data about their individual health behavior. The adolescents then provided feedback about strengths, weaknesses, and suggested improvements for the MRA. Results: Adolescent use of mobile technology was similar across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines. A Mobile Research App (MRA) with the capacity to both collect real-time data on adolescent risk-taking behavior and deliver an appropriate intervention and/or decision-making guidance may help adolescents better assess risk-taking behavior; however, the MRA must be built according to the specifications of the users, youth. Conclusion: This qualitative research informs the overall design of a mobile, data collection tool (MRA) to assess adolescent risk-taking behavior, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Surveillance System. It also provides information about adolescent requirements for timely, dynamic interventions to decrease or stop adolescent risk-taking behaviors.