title: Implementing 360° Quantified Self for childhood obesity: feasibility study and experiences from a weight loss camp in Qatar.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The explosion of consumer electronics and social media are facilitating the rise of the Quantified Self (QS) movement where millions of users are tracking various aspects of their daily life using social media, mobile technology, and wearable devices. Data from mobile phones, wearables and social media can facilitate a better understanding of the health behaviors of individuals. At the same time, there is an unprecedented increase in childhood obesity rates worldwide. This is a cause for grave concern due to its potential long-term health consequences (e.g., diabetes or cardiovascular diseases). Childhood obesity is highly prevalent in Qatar and the Gulf Region. In this study we examine the feasibility of capturing quantified-self data from social media, wearables and mobiles within a weight lost camp for overweight children in Qatar.
  
  
  METHODS
  Over 50 children (9-12 years old) and parents used a wide range of technologies, including wearable sensors (actigraphy), mobile and social media (WhatsApp and Instagram) to collect data related to physical activity and food, that was then integrated with physiological data to gain insights about their health habits. In this paper, we report about the acquired data and visualization techniques following the 360° Quantified Self (360QS) methodology (Haddadi et al., ICHI 587-92, 2015).
  
  
  RESULTS
  360QS allows for capturing insights on the behavioral patterns of children and serves as a mechanism to reinforce education of their mothers via social media. We also identified human factors, such as gender and cultural acceptability aspects that can affect the implementation of this technology beyond a feasibility study. Furthermore, technical challenges regarding the visualization and integration of heterogeneous and sparse data sets are described in the paper.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We proved the feasibility of using 360QS in childhood obesity through this pilot study. However, in order to fully implement the 360QS technology careful planning and integration in the health professionals' workflow is needed.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The trial where this study took place is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov on 14 November 2016 ( NCT02972164 ).
authors.affiliation: Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad bin Khalifa University, HBKU Research Complex, Qatar Foundation, Education City, Doha, Qatar. lluque@hbku.edu.qa.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8165-9904
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fernandez-Luque
authors.affiliation: Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad bin Khalifa University, HBKU Research Complex, Qatar Foundation, Education City, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Meghna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad bin Khalifa University, HBKU Research Complex, Qatar Foundation, Education City, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Ferda
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ofli
authors.affiliation: Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad bin Khalifa University, HBKU Research Complex, Qatar Foundation, Education City, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Yelena A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Mejova
authors.affiliation: Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad bin Khalifa University, HBKU Research Complex, Qatar Foundation, Education City, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Ingmar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.affiliation: Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad bin Khalifa University, HBKU Research Complex, Qatar Foundation, Education City, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aupetit
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Nutrition, College of Health Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Sahar Karim
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Jreige
authors.affiliation: Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad bin Khalifa University, HBKU Research Complex, Qatar Foundation, Education City, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Elmagarmid
authors.affiliation: Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad bin Khalifa University, HBKU Research Complex, Qatar Foundation, Education City, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Jaideep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Nutrition, College of Health Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ahmedna
mesh_terms: D056044:Actigraphy; D040421:Cell Phone; D002648:Child; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D015930:Diet Records; D004435:Eating; D015444:Exercise; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D020446:Fitness Centers; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011780:Qatar; D061108:Social Media; D000076251:Wearable Electronic Devices; D015431:Weight Loss
keywords: Quantified Self; Wearable; eHealth