Trentino Salute +: an App for the promotion of healthy lifestyles
Trento, 4. April 2019
TrentinoSalute4.0 is an active partner of DigitalLife4CE as a Central Europe Digital Healthcare Excellence Spot: in particular, its pilot is focusing on the possible market approach of both its organisational and its technical solutions. So far, DL project has been a great opportunity for disseminating these assets, thanks to transfer actions with project partners; below, an example of one of the technical solutions developed within TS4.0, i.e. the app Trentino Salute + part of the project for promoting healthy lifestyles which implements the first of the macro-thematic objectives of the 2015-2019 Trentino Health Plan: "More years of healthy life".
How does it work?
"Trentino Salute +" is a free app which is available on Android and iOS. After downloading it, the user has to authenticate with his Health Insurance Card and answer a questionnaire regarding his behavior with respect to the so-called "health pillars" (movement, food, smoking, alcohol) and his commitment to the society (volunteering and associations). Once defined how healthy his lifestyle is, the app suggests to the user in which areas it is possible to intervene to improve it. A virtual assistant – a virtual Coach – called Salbot, interacts with the user by proposing a series of "health challenges" in an interactive way, trying to make him more involved and active in the challenges.
Each "health challenge" presents some intermediate goals corresponding to an enhancement of the user’s healthy lifestyle and allowing him to collect “social points”. Through his social points, the user can support a social initiative which will be actually financed by PAT upon reaching the threshold of social points defined by the regulation. The economic contribution refers to a dedicated fund allocated by the provincial government and can not exceed € 5.000,00 for each social initiative.
Social initiatives are selected by a dedicated Steering Committee by applying the criteria and methods for conceding grants for projects of innovative or experimental activities that present aspects of particular relevance in the promotion of healthy lifestyles, as required by the Provincial Law on Social Policies n. 13/2007.
The user can donate but also receive: in fact, for each challenge faced, discounts and gifts can be obtained for the purchase of products and services related to health and healthy lifestyles offered by partner companies (e.g. gyms, sporting goods stores, physiotherapy and wellbeing centers). The various stages of the "health challenges" are enriched by informative messages and curiosities that make the path interesting, pleasant and educational.
Solutions like Salute + aim at achieving the engagement of citizens to support the change from an unhealthy behaviours towards long-lasting healthy lifestyles and therefore should be adopted in all Central Europe for reducing the burden of the healthcare system and improving the overall health of citizens.
We just have to start playing!
by Riccardo Farina & Sara Testa
