Technological solution to improve nutritional treatment through anxiety monitoring in obese adolescents using Serious Games

In this paper, we propose a mobile application that through training games control and monitor anxiety in a nutritional treatment for obese patients aged 16 to 20 years. The technological proposal is used by nutritionists qualified by the Peruvian College of Nutritionists and by overweight patients. The level of anxiety is calculated based on the 'Anxiety Inventory' proposed by Aaron Temkin Beck; This calculation is made by comparing the score obtained by the training game and the level of anxiety according to the scale of 4 levels: (0) minimal, (1) mild, (2) moderate and (3) severe. In recent years, the presence of anxiety represents 23.9% of mental illnesses, due to the impact of obesity on young people with poor eating and physical habits. To do this, the proposal allows anxiety to be monitored by capturing quantitative information on non-nutritive foods and a patient's lifestyle so that the nutritionist can monitor the progress of nutritional treatment. The proposal was validated in 3 hospitals in Lima, Peru through 2 business processes: 'Nutritional treatment management' and 'Nutritional treatment monitoring management'. The preliminary result shows the patient's anxiety level in a monitoring dashboard and the reduction of the average session time from 3.6 hours to 30 min, causing a positive impact on the interpretation of the information for decision-making.