Intervention With a Progressive Web App for the Promotion of Healthy Habits in Preschoolers

The preschool stage has been identified as an important moment for the study of factors associated with obesity. The worrying national situation of overweight in children from 3 to 5 years old, the increase in consumption of ultra-processed foods nationwide that is associated with the increase of the body mass index at the national level, the reduced national scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of interventions in promoting healthy habits, as well as the lack of tools for mothers of preschool children in nutrition and physical activity, make interventions necessary in this area. On the other hand, currently, users worldwide are installing fewer applications and, although they spend more time using mobile applications, they are limited to a handful. Therefore, developing a native mobile application that is highly consumed is very difficult and expensive. For this reason, progressive web apps emerge as an attractive alternative for users given its attractive features, cross-platform interface, lower development cost and a growing demand for such applications. Thus, this research seeks to explore a novel way to promote healthy habits in preschoolers and check their effectiveness. In this way, a precedent could be set in the use of technologies in health promotion that could be extended to other age groups.