Helping ensure science is at the heart of mindful eating technology design

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MEDEC cards developed as part of the research to support the designers and developers of new mindful eating technologies

Credit: Lala Guluzade

Lancaster University researchers have created a new toolset to guide developers of technologies aimed at helping the millions of people around the world who are impacted by problematic eating and unhealthy relationships with food.

By combining health research insights with practical design tools, the researchers have developed a rigorous, health research–grounded framework to guide the design and evaluation of digital technologies that support mindful eating.

Mindful eating is the practice of being more mentally aware when consuming food and drink as well as bodily cues such as hunger and feeling full. It is considered to be a technique for cultivating a better, more conscious relationship with eating.

However, the researchers found that many existing technologies have limited theoretical underpinnings from mindful eating research and eating experts. The paper addresses this recognised gap between health science theory and technology design.

This work, which is published by the academic journal ACM ‘Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction’, bridges a critical gap between health science and human-computer interaction (HCI), providing designers with evidence-based tools to ensure digital solutions are aligned with scientific principles, thus making them safe and effective.

At the heart of the study are Mindful Eating Design Critique (MEDEC) cards, a novel…

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