Feasibility and user acceptance of a personal weight management system based on ubiquitous computing

With the fast development of information and communications technology, devices with some computing power are becoming increasingly abundant in the average home. The trend for these devices to also be provided with intercommunication functionality opens up new possibilities for health care. The availability of ubiquitous computing allows the individual to perform health-related measurements, review data or consult guidelines independent of place or time, thus providing the individual with a better means to follow certain treatment programs. In this study, we set out to implement a system based on ubiquitous computing for the application of weight management using behavioral feedback. The goals were (a) to gain insights in the technical feasibility and caveats of such a system as a basis for setting up more advanced and generic infrastructures, and (b) to study the degree to whether people are actually willing to use such a technology-laden system for their health management. The results lead us to the conclusion that such a system is possible with the current technology, although many issues need to be solved before generic architectures and implementations are a reality, and that many people, especially those who have serious weight problems, are eager to use such a system.