Robert J Bensley*, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, United States Jason Rivas*, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, United States Track: Practice Presentation Topic: Web 2.0 approaches for behaviour change, public health and biosurveillance Presentation Type: Oral presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Building: Mermaid Room: Room 3 - Upper River Room Date: 2013-09-23 04:00 PM – 06:00 PM Last modified: 2013-09-25

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It has been well established by the Pew Research Center and others that lower income US populations have easy access to Internet technologies, including computers and cell phones. The purpose of this session is to showcase the 10-year evolution of an online behavior change intervention built for low-income women with children between the ages of 0 and 5 who are associated with the US Department of Agriculture Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. This innovative intervention, which began as a few basic web pages, has evolved into a complex, multifaceted approach that combines desktop, and mobile technologies to improve the user’s journey toward positively impacting parent-child feeding behaviors. Based on 10 years of experience impacting over 1.3 million WIC clients, the authors will share (1) how wichealth.org, the leading online nutrition behavior change platform used within WIC, has evolved over time to ensure usability barriers do not impede the goal of “recreating the human experience”; (2) the impact wichealth.org has had on numerous behaviors and beliefs associated with nutritional practices among WIC clients; (3) features developed that allows the system to operate and “learn” from its users in an attempt to further impact a tailored and intelligent virtual experience; and (4) the integration of an interactive, tailored cell phone platform designed to continue assisting users’ movement toward effective behavior change. Discussion will center on the intelligence features built into the system that ensures each user has a unique, tailored experience that not only overcomes credibility barriers commonly experienced by intervention developers, but that also mimics the human experience felt when working with a live counselor. Complex algorithms drive both the website and text messaging platforms, which provide the “life” behind the virtual counselors who are assigned to work with clients. Using unique audiovisual technology and tailored dialogue, clients truly feel they are connecting with live counselors as they progress toward successful behavior change.