May 28, 2014 -- The prevalence of chronic diseases like diabetes is growing rapidly, causing enormous pressure on the NHS, and of course, on people’s lives. It’s great to see that NICE recognise the need to help people change behaviours and better manage their lifestyles rather than simply telling them to change without the support and guidance required to do so.
Mobile and internet technology have had an enormous impact on the possibilities when it comes to lifestyle management programmes. Some already choose to download apps that tackle aspects of this, calorie counters, activity trackers and the like. However, whilst take up for these stand-alone apps is growing, dropout rates are very high as people lose interest or motivation after a few weeks.
We are building lifestyle management programmes based on many years of patient intervention, and have found that to achieve behavioural change over sustained periods of time a holistic approach is required to build a collaborative relationship with the individual. This is achieved through creating adaptive programmes, that capture the type of information you might expect, activity, diet and how you are feeling today, but that goes further than simply tracking this data – adapting the interface, the motivation aspects and the information shared according to the progress of each individual.
Combine this with guidance on setting personal, but realistic goals – as Gill Fine indicates in the Wednesday 28th announcement from NICE, setting a target of losing a stone can be disheartening and demotivating. However, setting an achievable target, maybe just losing a pound a week, and cheering you on as you meet it each week can make all the difference. Some solutions even go a step further; for instance, a system to allow people to join together and work through collaborative goals, linking people and providing additional motivation to achieving common goals.
These emerging adaptive solutions that support patient’s real world needs, and provide a more targeted and effective engagement with their healthcare services, are leading the way in addressing the unprecedented challenges faced by the NHS in meeting the obesity epidemic.'
For more information, please contact Tristan Jervis or Alex Heeley at De Facto Communication on +44 (0) 207 203 6740 or e-mail: t.jervis@defacto.com.
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