A portal to promote healthy living within families

Abstract

Our research aims at helping families work together to achieve a healthier lifestyle, increasing their awareness of what they currently do, and thus, could do differently. In particular, we are looking at encouraging reflections and discussions within the family, investigating the usefulness and effectiveness of various types of motivational strategies. This paper presents a collaborative platform for families. Our aim was to explore if we could facilitate health discussions, about lifestyle in particular, and encourage supportive behaviour within the family. We discuss some of the results we obtained when conducting a pilot study with families. © 2011 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.