Solution
The issue of fad diets is rather broad as it encompasses every cluster of the population regardless of their age, gender, socio-economic status, and other factors. To reach the goal of educating the population on healthy eating habits and eating behavior, a nurse can start with educating patients whose records feature dieting, particularly – fad dieting.
As one can see from the introductory phase of the present paper, fad diet guides are readily available via the Web and smartphone applications, targeting the younger population. To fight the fad diet craze and raise awareness among the same audience they target, an educational application can be developed. Research has shown the efficacy of such applications in pediatric obesity control (Schoffman, Turner-McGrievy, Jones, & Wilcox, 2013). Contrastingly to applications targeted at children – which are usually presented in game form – the suggested application should come in an educational form to encompass a more mature audience. A pilot name in suggestion is “Fab Diet” to demonstrate how this application deviates from what it fights.
Major steps in implementing the Fab Diet app will include:
- Defining the goals of the app. The overall goal is to educate the users on the harm of fad diets and promote a healthier lifestyle. Smaller day-to-day goals will require some extra time.
- Sketching the layout of the app.
- Research whether there already are applications pursuing the same minor goals.
- Creating a wireframe and a storyboard.
- Testing the application.
- Hiring a designer to develop the “skins” – the screenshots needed for the application.
- Testing again through other applications like Solidify and Framer to import the design and links.
For designing the application, the Dribbble marketplace is suitable: one can choose a designer based on their portfolios and place an order. A mobile app creator such as Moqups or HotGloo is a place to prototype and conduct initial testing. Alternately, one can hire a team of programmers to develop the application based on sketches and goal sets. The creation of the app can be entirely web-based. With all the polishing and data integration, the creation will take about 18 weeks in total.
Benefits
The costs of small-scale applications development range from $50,000 to $100,000 (How Much Does an App Cost, 2016). The expenses include API and backend services, as well as the services of the programmer team. It appears than an Android application is pricier to develop, although the benefits can refurbish the expenses.
To receive some of the money back, one should consider a light- and pro-versions of the app; alternately, the Fab Diet can require subscription or gather donations for support. Another way to benefit from the application is to price it at about $0.99. Generally, app developers receive about $5000 in monthly revenue (Louis, 2013). A graph can better demonstrate the benefit of the Fab Diet app with the increase in downloads.
Assuming that the number of downloads will be on a steady increase, the revenue is guaranteed to start with Month 2 since the launching of the app.
The application will provide users with daily tips on healthy dieting and facts about fad diets as opposed to research-based healthy eating habits. Fab Diet will also emphasize the lifelong purpose of the diet, as stated by the goals of the preceding sections. The underlying purpose of the application is to convince the users of the necessity of lifelong healthy eating and its effects on the life span and overall well-being. Considering its educatory purposes, the subject matter of the application will require an extensive research findings database. Useful facts about healthy eating and myths about fad diets can be delivered to the app users in the form of notifications at customizable frequency.
Conclusion
The popularity of fad diets, as it was explained earlier, can be explained by the wide access to the sources suggesting such diets. Additionally, fad diets are pervasive due to unrealistic – yet tempting – promises they make. Such diets are likely not to lead to any substantial weight loss or wellness improvement. Quite on the contrary: ketone diets can starve the organism and result in heart and liver complications; additionally, by announcing some products as “unlimitedly permissible,” they exacerbate the habit to overeating
The anti-scientific nature of fad diets should be conquered with its weapon. An application with a user-friendly design will ensure a wider target audience, more public interest, and increased visibility. Fab Diet application will provide the users with academically backed-up data in a palatable, easy-to-read form daily. It will also bust the myths surrounding fad diets. The application will convince them of the lifelong healthy eating necessity and help them adopt the habits to improve their well-being, become fitter, and live longer. The purposes of Fab Diet, therefore, are compliant with the higher purposes of the whole nursing community: to promote health and improve the life quality of the population. Despite the initial hardships, the enterprise is bound to succeed.
References
How Much Does an App Cost: A Massive Review of Pricing and other Budget Considerations. (2016). Web.
Louis, T. (2013). How Much Do Average Apps Make? Forbes / Tech. Web.
Schoffman, D. E., Turner-McGrievy, G., Jones, S. J., & Wilcox, S. (2013). Mobile apps for pediatric obesity prevention and treatment, healthy eating, and physical activity promotion: just fun and games? Translational Behavioral Medicine, 3(3), 320-325.