J. Dowd, 1 D. Nielsen, 2 D. Higbee Clarkin,2 K. T-Y. Tang,3 C. Jackson,4 & S. N. Culos-Reed 1,4
1Faculty of Kinesiology; 2 WholeLife HealthTech; 3 Faculty of Arts, Department of Psychology; 4 Faculty of Medicine, Cumming School of Medicine.
Presented at the 2018 Science of Behavioural Medicine Conference. CLICK HERE TO VIEW.
Part 1
In the first part of the study, 118 adult participants tested the MyHealthyGut app for one-week. This testing cohort included individuals diagnosed with celiac disease, as well as healthcare professionals (e.g. dietitians and physicians).
Results: 90.7% of participants stated there was a need for an app for celiac disease.
Part 2
The second part of the study was focused on user-experience and the usability of the features within the app.
Results: Feedback from individuals with celiac disease and healthcare professionals resulted in revisions to the functionality and content of the app, making it more user-friendly. This feedback also led to improved onboarding user-flows and journaling, as well as the addition of more disease-related content.
Randomized Controlled Trial Results and Publication coming soon.
SUPPORTED BY
MyHealthyGut is the first health app designed exclusively for users to manage their gut health. It was created by Darlene Higbee Clarkin RHN (experienced technologist and holistic nutritionist), Desiree Nielsen, RD (registered dietitian with deep experience in treating those with celiac disease and gluten intolerance), and Justine Dowd, PhD (celiac disease researcher at the University of Calgary). The app development and research study was supported by the Canadian Celiac Association (Calgary, Vancouver and Kamloops chapters), Mitacs and the Calgary Foundation.
MyHealthyGut is designed to improve the general health of those suffering from digestive discomfort, celiac disease and gluten intolerance by providing easy access to solid, research-based knowledge on gut diseases. It gives users access to scientifically supported gut health information that allows quicker and more accurate management of gut related disorders and symptoms than through more traditional channels.
The Story of MyHealthyGut: our Theory-based App to Promote Gut Health
Darlene, Justine and Desiree spent over a year developing the MyHealthyGut app. They spent hours sifting through market research on existing apps, designing app features, developing nutritional and lifestyle programs and researching the science behind the software. They also conducted controlled trials and beta testing with a healthcare specialist and individuals living with celiac disease and gluten intolerance to provide a user-friendly app that delivers maximum impact.
The team ensured that evidence-based science and real-life users were central to the development of the MyHealthyGut, and as a result, the app gained recognition and was peer-reviewed by the Professional Advisory Board of National Canadian Celiac Association. This developmental approach also means that MyHealthyGut is consistently chosen as a top gut health app by reviewers, including Healthline.com in 2017.
Buoyed by the success of MyHealthyGut, the KORE team are developing a suite of additional science-based, easy-to-access packages to address other gut health diseases and disorders including:
