HabitQuest for professionals
Information for clinicians, schools, commissioners and community partners.
What HabitQuest is
HabitQuest is a family-centred digital behaviour change platform for children aged 6–12. It provides personalised daily suggestions across nutrition, physical activity, sleep and confidence, delivered through a dual parent-and-child interface.
It is designed as a supportive tool alongside standard care. It is not a medical device, does not diagnose or treat any condition, and does not replace clinical assessment.
The evidence base
HabitQuest was developed in response to a retrospective clinical audit of all paediatric type 2 diabetes patients under care at a North West London NHS trust.
- Every patient in the cohort was from a non-White ethnic background
- The majority resided in postcodes below England’s median deprivation rank
- The majority remained at or above the 99th weight centile at most recent review
- Glycaemic control was highly variable despite escalating pharmacotherapy
The finding that motivated the product: the lifestyle and family environment dimension was not being reached by existing care pathways. An abstract based on this audit has been submitted to the Diabetes UK Professional Conference.
Design principles
| Principle | Implementation |
|---|---|
| No weight-centred messaging | No weight, BMI or calorie information is displayed to children at any point |
| Cultural relevance | Meal content spans 37 cuisines with religious and cultural dietary filtering |
| Autonomy-supportive | Children are offered two to three daily choices rather than a single instruction, consistent with Self-Determination Theory |
| Behaviour change framework | Grounded in the COM-B model with techniques mapped to BCTTv1 |
| Accessibility | Designed to work on standard devices with no equipment or subscription cost to families |
Clinical governance and compliance
Current status. HabitQuest is pre-pilot. The items below are in progress and this page will be updated as each is completed. We publish only what is complete.
- Clinical risk management under DCB0129 — in progress
- Named Clinical Safety Officer — appointment in progress
- Dietitian review of all meal content — commissioned
- Paediatric physiotherapist review of all activity content — commissioned
- Data Protection Impact Assessment — in progress
- ICO Children’s Code compliance assessment — in progress
- DTAC (Digital Technology Assessment Criteria) — in preparation
- Eating attitudes safety monitoring — built into the platform
Evaluation approach
A pilot feasibility study is planned with 40–50 NHS-referred families over 12 weeks, using validated instruments at baseline, six weeks and twelve weeks:
- PAQ-C — physical activity
- CADET — dietary quality
- WEMWBS-C — child mental wellbeing
- PedsQL Parent Proxy — for younger children
- ChEAT — eating attitudes, as an internal safety monitor
Deployment models
HabitQuest can be deployed through NHS referral pathways, school and multi-academy trust licensing, or community partnerships. Families self-enrol using a referral code — no patient data is transferred from NHS systems and there is no integration with clinical records.
Enquiries
For pilot, partnership or commissioning enquiries, please contact info@habitquest.uk.