C. Stephanidis (Ed.): Universal Access in HCI, Part III, HCII 2011, LNCS 6767, pp. 36–45, 2011. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 Mobile Technologies for Promoting Health and Wellness among African American Youth Donovan Hill 1 , Jasmine Blunt 1 , Terrence Pugh 1 , Monika Monk 1 , Ji-Sun Kim 2 , Woodrow W. Winchester, III 3 , D. Scott McCrickard 2 , Paul Estabrooks 4 , and Felicia Doswell 1 1 Norfolk State University, Department of Computer Science, 700 Park Avenue, Norfolk, VA 23504, United States 2 Virginia Tech, Department of Computer Science, 2202 Kraft Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24060, United States 3 Virginia Tech, Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 250 Durham Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States 4 Virginia Tech, Department of Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise, 338 Wallace Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States {d.l.hill,j.s.blunt,t.l.pugh,m.p.monk}@spartans.nsu.edu, {hideaway,wwwinche,mccricks,estabrkp}@vt.edu, fdoswell@nsu.edu Abstract. This paper describes an effort to address life-threatening diseases and health conditions through engaging use of mobile devices. The design targeted children ages 7-11, with a goal of becoming aware of the nutritional value of foods that they eat on a regular basis. The implementation efforts resulted in Health Attack, a matching and memory game that seeks to raise the knowledge- level of participants about the foods that they eat. The evaluation of Health Attack, conducted through a demo and questionnaire administered to K-12 teachers, suggests that this type of game would be engaging for younger audi- ences as a first step in raising health awareness. Keywords: mobile computing, games, games, evaluation. 1 Introduction In the African-American community, there are a growing number of life-threatening diseases that can be prevented or lessened with a healthy diet and exercise, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes (e.g., [1,2]). We assembled a team of designers to create an engaging interface to address health and wellness concerns among African Americans. The design and implementation was led by four developers, under the guidance of two program supervisors, an academic advisor, one technical supervisor, and one health and wellness domain expert. The demographic constitution of the design team sought to ensure that people aware of issues first-hand would have a prominent role in the creation of the interfaces. It was also expected that the team