Description
Mixed Reality / Serious Game / UX / AI Model
Anorexia Nervosa / Mindfulness-Based Eating / Music Creation
Gourmet Flow is a gamified smart product designed to support adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa. It empowers them to create "gourmet music" by engaging their senses of sight, smell, and taste during mindfulness-based eating. Through a blend of Mixed Reality, AI models, and a smartphone app, the product transforms therapeutic eating into an immersive and artistic experience, contributing to the sustainable future of healthcare.
Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder and mental health disorder that involves severe calorie restriction and often a very low body weight that can be life-threatening.
Features of AN
Persistent food restriction ; Distorted self-image ; Intense fear of gaining weight ; Depression and anxiety
High-Risk Population of AN
Although people of any age can develop this eating disorder, AN is more common among adolescents aged 15–19 years old.
Treatment
Phases
Treatment for AN involves three phases with an emphasis on early intervention.
Traditional Treatment
Current treatments achieve full recovery in only 30-50% of patients. Exploring early intervention strategy is crucial to help AN patients develop a sustainable relationship with food.
Mindfulness-Based Eating
Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT), rooted in DBT, focuses on paying attention to present-moment internal and external experiences with openness, curiosity, and acceptance. Recent studies have shown that MB-EAT holds promise for supporting recovery from psychiatric illnesses and is increasingly being applied to promote healthy eating behaviors.
Procedure
Interview
We interviewed two recovered AN patients who used MB-EAT during their treatment.
Finding: Although traditional MB-EAT is an effective therapy, it is difficult to maintain, leading to a lack of sustainability.
Pain
Psychology of Eating
Recent research has shown that eating behavior is not only influenced by factors associated with the individual alone but also by the external factors determining the surrounding environment in which one eats, such as lighting, color, temperature, or music.
Eating X Music
Eating X Environment
Persona
Concept
System Map
Elements Settings
By combining MB-EAT with music composition, this gamified product encourages adolescents with AN to engage their senses to feel the food in an immersive way, turning eating into an enjoyable and artistic experience.
User Experience
Technique
Mixed Reality
We decided to use Mixed Reality to create a virtual eating environment and engage users in interacting with an audio-visual art piece during MB-EAT practice.
AI Model
By combining MB-EAT with music composition, this gamified product encourages adolescents with AN to engage their senses to feel the food in an immersive way, turning eating into an enjoyable and artistic experience.
APP UI
The smartphone-based APP serves as the functional interface, used both before and after the MB-EAT process.
MR Environment
Combining eating psychology with environmental design principles, we have created multiple MR environment to promote users’ appetite during the MB-EAT process. Users can choose their ideal eating environment according to their meal at the beginning of MB-EAT.
MR Game UI
Audio-Visual Art Piece
Inspiration: Mandala
The design of the audio-visual art piece is inspired by the concept of the Mandala, a symbol of meditation. The mandala has been regarded as a tool for fostering spiritual concentration, self-reflection, the establishment of inner order—resonating with the principles of MB-EAT.
Settings
Audio-Visual Art Pieces
AI visualizes music with the changes of patterns designed to tastes during MB-EAT.
Techique
Final Effect
By Chenfei Liu
Contact: +86 17310140714
Email: liuchf2022@shanghaitech.edu.cn