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Desire to Be Underweight: Exploratory Study on a Weight Loss App Community and User Perceptions of the Impact on Disordered Eating Behaviors

BACKGROUND: Mobile health (mHealth) apps for weight loss (weight loss apps) can be useful diet and exercise tools for individuals in need of losing weight. Most studies view weight loss app users as these types of individuals, but not all users have the same needs. In fact, users with disordered eat...

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Autores principales: Eikey, Elizabeth Victoria, Reddy, Madhu C, Booth, Kayla M, Kvasny, Lynette, Blair, Johnna L, Li, Victor, Poole, Erika S
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: JMIR Publications 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5658641/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29025694
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/mhealth.6683
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author Eikey, Elizabeth Victoria
Reddy, Madhu C
Booth, Kayla M
Kvasny, Lynette
Blair, Johnna L
Li, Victor
Poole, Erika S
author_facet Eikey, Elizabeth Victoria
Reddy, Madhu C
Booth, Kayla M
Kvasny, Lynette
Blair, Johnna L
Li, Victor
Poole, Erika S
author_sort Eikey, Elizabeth Victoria
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Mobile health (mHealth) apps for weight loss (weight loss apps) can be useful diet and exercise tools for individuals in need of losing weight. Most studies view weight loss app users as these types of individuals, but not all users have the same needs. In fact, users with disordered eating behaviors who desire to be underweight are also utilizing weight loss apps; however, few studies give a sense of the prevalence of these users in weight loss app communities and their perceptions of weight loss apps in relation to disordered eating behaviors. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to provide an analysis of users’ body mass indices (BMIs) in a weight loss app community and examples of how users with underweight BMI goals perceive the impact of the app on disordered eating behaviors. METHODS: We focused on two aspects of a weight loss app (DropPounds): profile data and forum posts, and we moved from a broader picture of the community to a narrower focus on users’ perceptions. We analyzed profile data to better understand the goal BMIs of all users, highlighting the prevalence of users with underweight BMI goals. Then we explored how users with a desire to be underweight discussed the weight loss app’s impact on disordered eating behaviors. RESULTS: We found three main results: (1) no user (regardless of start BMI) starts with a weight gain goal, and most users want to lose weight; (2) 6.78% (1261/18,601) of the community want to be underweight, and most identify as female; (3) users with underweight BMI goals tend to view the app as positive, especially for reducing bingeing; however, some acknowledge its role in exacerbating disordered eating behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are important for our understanding of the different types of users who utilize weight loss apps, the perceptions of weight loss apps related to disordered eating, and how weight loss apps may impact users with a desire to be underweight. Whereas these users had underweight goals, they often view the app as helpful in reducing disordered eating behaviors, which led to additional questions. Therefore, future research is needed.
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spelling pubmed-56586412017-11-03 Desire to Be Underweight: Exploratory Study on a Weight Loss App Community and User Perceptions of the Impact on Disordered Eating Behaviors Eikey, Elizabeth Victoria Reddy, Madhu C Booth, Kayla M Kvasny, Lynette Blair, Johnna L Li, Victor Poole, Erika S JMIR Mhealth Uhealth Original Paper BACKGROUND: Mobile health (mHealth) apps for weight loss (weight loss apps) can be useful diet and exercise tools for individuals in need of losing weight. Most studies view weight loss app users as these types of individuals, but not all users have the same needs. In fact, users with disordered eating behaviors who desire to be underweight are also utilizing weight loss apps; however, few studies give a sense of the prevalence of these users in weight loss app communities and their perceptions of weight loss apps in relation to disordered eating behaviors. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to provide an analysis of users’ body mass indices (BMIs) in a weight loss app community and examples of how users with underweight BMI goals perceive the impact of the app on disordered eating behaviors. METHODS: We focused on two aspects of a weight loss app (DropPounds): profile data and forum posts, and we moved from a broader picture of the community to a narrower focus on users’ perceptions. We analyzed profile data to better understand the goal BMIs of all users, highlighting the prevalence of users with underweight BMI goals. Then we explored how users with a desire to be underweight discussed the weight loss app’s impact on disordered eating behaviors. RESULTS: We found three main results: (1) no user (regardless of start BMI) starts with a weight gain goal, and most users want to lose weight; (2) 6.78% (1261/18,601) of the community want to be underweight, and most identify as female; (3) users with underweight BMI goals tend to view the app as positive, especially for reducing bingeing; however, some acknowledge its role in exacerbating disordered eating behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are important for our understanding of the different types of users who utilize weight loss apps, the perceptions of weight loss apps related to disordered eating, and how weight loss apps may impact users with a desire to be underweight. Whereas these users had underweight goals, they often view the app as helpful in reducing disordered eating behaviors, which led to additional questions. Therefore, future research is needed. JMIR Publications 2017-10-12 /pmc/articles/PMC5658641/ /pubmed/29025694 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/mhealth.6683 Text en ©Elizabeth Victoria Eikey, Madhu C Reddy, Kayla M Booth, Lynette Kvasny, Johnna L Blair, Victor Li, Erika S Poole. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 12.10.2017. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR mhealth and uhealth, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://mhealth.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Eikey, Elizabeth Victoria
Reddy, Madhu C
Booth, Kayla M
Kvasny, Lynette
Blair, Johnna L
Li, Victor
Poole, Erika S
Desire to Be Underweight: Exploratory Study on a Weight Loss App Community and User Perceptions of the Impact on Disordered Eating Behaviors
title Desire to Be Underweight: Exploratory Study on a Weight Loss App Community and User Perceptions of the Impact on Disordered Eating Behaviors
title_full Desire to Be Underweight: Exploratory Study on a Weight Loss App Community and User Perceptions of the Impact on Disordered Eating Behaviors
title_fullStr Desire to Be Underweight: Exploratory Study on a Weight Loss App Community and User Perceptions of the Impact on Disordered Eating Behaviors
title_full_unstemmed Desire to Be Underweight: Exploratory Study on a Weight Loss App Community and User Perceptions of the Impact on Disordered Eating Behaviors
title_short Desire to Be Underweight: Exploratory Study on a Weight Loss App Community and User Perceptions of the Impact on Disordered Eating Behaviors
title_sort desire to be underweight: exploratory study on a weight loss app community and user perceptions of the impact on disordered eating behaviors
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5658641/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29025694
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/mhealth.6683
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