Using an ICT tool, the MEAL (Modifying Eating Attitudes and Actions through Learning) project will introduce a training methodology for professors, students and nutrition professionals so that they can acquire, train and provide basic nutritional information to children between 9 and 12 years old.
The project has arisen after a rise in obesity among the European population: the number of people with the eating disorder has tripled over the last twenty years. Spain now has the second highest obesity rate among children, at 28.3%.
The tool will be implemented in schools and aimed at children between 9 and 12 years old. So, what’s the idea? To teach about nutrition and healthy behavior in schools, MEAL will provide a web platform based on “learn by doing” educational methods. The children will not only be provided with nutritional knowledge, but also teach skills through a serious game in which they will have to feed a family with products they make themselves. Furthermore, the tool will make it possible to select phases in the game so that children can continue practicing at home.
The project will then begin to analyze the needs of users and develop the technology accordingly. Later, assessment tests will be carried out in Austria, Norway, Italy and Spain, with different groups of users (students, professionals and children).
To develop the web platform, MEAL will use ehCOS, a procedural technology platform developed by Everis that has already demonstrated its flexibility and ability to build solutions in the health sector.
During the development of this project, which will be financed by the European Commission with a sum of 500,000 euros, Everis will work with the University of Valencia and the Jaume I de Castellón University, and experts in psychological disorders and treatment therapies for childhood obesity. Three European partners, Norway, Austria and Italy will be involved while the Center for Biomedical Research on the Internet and Physiopathology in Obesity and Nutrition (CIBERobn) will also provide support.
It is hoped that MEAL will create an ICT tool able to increase the level of self-sufficiency, self-regulation and motivation among children to change their eating habits and thus avoid obesity in adulthood. Education about healthcare is one of the great challenges of contemporary society.
