UNTITLED

Abstract

Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. The num-ber of children diagnosed as obese from ages 6 to 11 has increased from 7% in 1980 to 20% in 2008. Obese children are more likely to become obese adults, and they are at the risk for adult health problems such as diabetes and heart diseases. The management of childhood obesity is in prevention, which includes changing lifestyle habits and physical activity. Dietary behav-ior and physical activity are influenced by many factors such as the envi-ronment and family. Although there are many programs that target adult obesity, treatment for childhood obesity is primarily limited to clinical set-tings and may not be accessible to children living in vulnerable populations. There is a need to provide effective treatment for obese children in commu-nity-based settings. The goal of this project is to create a fun e-book that targets children with entertaining, interactive technology that will teach and entice them to participate in eating healthy and exercising regularly. It also will guide and support the children to make healthier and informed choices. The e-book is designed as an educational tool for children, with variety of features that will help children engage in managing their weight. Features such as animated pictures, flip pages with real book sounds, pages that can zoom in and out, embedded videos, the ability to highlight, and a search en-gine, will help illustrate the meaning of a healthy body and food, with tested examples. The sound effects and highlight features will help children to fol-low the stories more easily. Search engines and hyperlinked words will assist with pronunciation and will help children understand and interact with the e-book. The effectiveness of this e-book will be evaluated by surveying the children after its use.