Chances of increasing youth health awareness through mobile wellness applications

Abstract

The poor general state of health of the Austrian youth - which is possibly representative for the western industrial world - will have dramatic effects on our health care system in years to come. Health risks among adolescents, including smoking, alcohol, obesity, lack of physical activity and an unhealthy diet, will lead to an increase in chronic diseases. A preventive measure against such a development could be to reinforce health awareness through the use of web and mobile applications supporting self observation and behavior change. In this paper, we present an overview of the latest developments in the area of mobile wellness and take a look at the features of applications that constitutes the current state of the art, as well as their shortcomings and ways of overcoming these. Finally, we discuss the possibilities offered by new technological developments in the area of mobile devices and by incorporating the characteristics that make up the Web 2.0. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.