Using technologies to promote HEalthy lifestyles in Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities

ended

Over half of adults do not comply with international recommendations on physical activity and this situation is even more concerning when talking about young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. IDHEApp will develop an application for mobile environments based on gamification that will promote healthy physical activity and eating habits among young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), thus contributing to their inclusion and encouraging their participation in physical activity. Therefore, the project will offer innovative resources to be applied by the educational community in the real-world setting to promote physical activity levels, appropriate diet habits, and reduce sedentary time among adolescents with IDD. The proposal is built in 3 main phases: 1- review of the main international recommendations on sedentary lifestyle and physical activity for this target group and development of a mobile app to enhance physical activity, sedentary lifestyle and nutrition; 2 – implementation of a multicentre randomized clinical trial to test the effectiveness of a lifestyle intervention program in adolescents with IDD; 3 – development of guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behavior with public health recommendations for adolescents with IDD on the amount of physical activity (frequency, intensity and duration) required to offer significant health benefits. Hence, IDHEApp will target secondary school students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (final beneficiaries of project results and deliverables) and school leaders, teachers, and parents (beneficiaries of the Training and Intervention Programme). The IDHEApp Consortium is composed of academic institutions, research centres and NGOs from Spain (University of Seville and INClusion Association), Germany (Technical University of Munich), CroatUSING TECHNOLOGIES TO PROMOTE HEALTHY LIFESTYLES IN ADOLESCENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES