The first pilot of Liepaja which started in April this year, has been successfully finished in November and first pilot group has reached the end of the program. More broaden conclusions about the first Pilot will be available in December.
As reported before, at the very beginning pilot program started 20 children with their family members by working together with nutritionist, physical training coach and psychologists and personal coaches to reduce overweight and help reducing psycho-emotional burden related to weight.
First period of the pilot was held from April to June, where each participant was measured and evaluated for the evaluation purposes of the end of the first pilot. During this period, also smartwatches were given to target group, but it didn’t meet the high expectations of its usage for participants, because most of the group didn’t find smart technology handy as well as technical opportunities were limited for some children in the group. During this period, all group worked closely on daily basis with the pilot team.
During the pilot passive period, which was in July and August, pilot team met with participants once a month and kept the communication alive virtually.
When active period started again in September, only 9 children and their family members confirmed their participation for further pilot, which indicates the lack of motivation and responsibility related to participation of the pilot. During this period families meet with personal coaches and does physical activities. To improve pilot for more successful result, new nutritionist/dietologist were added to the pilot to give new insight in field of nutrition and find new approaches for the families. One theoretical lecture was held and two practical cooking masterclasses done. Also, physical classes for parents of the children were organized to make outcome more fundamental since all values starts in the family.
During next period of the second pilot (January 2019 – June 2020) new group will be selected using a bit different selection procedure to collect group more wisely for hopefully more effective outcome. Main conclusions will be made after first pilot during December for making more effective second pilot. For next pilot more individual meetings are planned with nutritionist as well as meeting with personal coach or psychologist. Physical activities will stay at the same amount plus there will be added virtual assistant as an e-tool for children motivation and knowledge expansion about health lifestyle and steps how to overcome the lack of motivation. E-tool will be created between December 2019 and February 2020.