LAUSR

Objective: To promote adherence to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Diet (DASH) using a novel mobile app. Methods: The theory-grounded WHEELS for DASH app is designed to build enduring cognitive representations for long-term dietary behavioral changes. Users participated in twice-daily cognitive behavioral intervention activities,requiring a total of 8 minutes or less, over 56 days: these included goal setting, reading tailored DASH messages, and tracking eating patterns. Volunteers were recruited from an outpatient research registry, (N=72, age 19 to 73-mean=43, 78% female, 18% African American, 33% HTN diagnosis); 66 testers completed end of study surveys. A validated tool , App Quality Evaluation (AQEL), was used for intra-class correlation (ICC) reliability estimates and 95% confidence intervals based on a mean-rating ( k =66), absolute-agreement, and 2-way random-effects model. One item, “How useful was the App in improving my daily healthy eating” measured end-user satisfaction. ANOVA analyses with Bonferroni correction were used to evaluate app-collected DASH eating behaviors over time. Results: Reliability estimates were excellent, (ICC[2,66]=.85; 95% CI .66 to .97, p <.001) and user satisfaction was good (75% ) rated very useful or useful. Key DASH eating patterns means significantly improved from week 1 to 6, and week 1 to 8, (Figure 1 , p=< .001 and p=<.05. for all users who tracked daily DASH adherence). Conclusion: The WHEELS for DASH mobile application has potential to change dietary behaviors and support adherence to the DASH Eating Plan. The next step is to test this App for impact on blood pressure in patients with hypertension.