It's Time to Eat! Using Mobile Games to Promote Healthy Eating

Characteristics of Smartphone Applications for Nutrition Improvement in Community Settings: A Scoping Review

“…Of the 4818 titles identified from the database search, 64 articles were included: 9 reporting dietary self-monitoring trials (38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46), 18 reporting nutritionimprovement trials (36,(47)(48)(49)(50)(51)(52)(53)(54)(55)(56)(57)(58)(59)(60)(61)(62)(63), 30 reporting applicationdevelopment projects (37,, and 7 reporting qualitative studies with consumers (93)(94)(95)(96)(97)(98)(99). Five reports were published in 2016, 16 each in 2015 and 2014, 11 in 2013, and 16 between 2008 and 2012.…”

“…Excessive data entry for setup and logins was reportedly undesirable (36,93,98,99). Crowdsourcing data from users was useful for providing a comprehensive back-end food database (53,58) and tailoring feedback on meal healthiness (62). Within nutrition improvement trials it was found that staggered deployment of features (rolling out new features over time) helped maintain participant engagement with the application (52).…”

“…Additionally, reports of progress based on logging commenting on overall diet quality, rather than just calorie tracking, were highly valued (38,43,93,95,(97)(98)(99). Narrative game-style applications (typically games with a character and storyline) were more appealing to adolescents than adults, and emotional and social realism were important for motivation (50,62,77,85,89). Adults and overweight populations generally valued quiz-style games if they were quick to play and included incentives such as real rewards (70,74,85).…”

“…These were Social Cognitive Theory, which informed the development of 7 applications (50-52, 57, 74, 77, 89); the Transtheoretical model (36,52,79) and Self-determination theory (57,74,89), both informing 3 applications; and Transportation theory (50,77) and the Health Action Process Approach (56,60), both informing the development of 2 applications. Additional models reported in nutrition-improvement trials and application-development projects were Control Systems Theory (44), Fogg's behavioral model (51,62), the Behavior Change Wheel (72,86), the Health Belief Model (74,77), the Theory of Planned Behavior (48), the Elaboration Likelihood Model (77), and the Precaution Adoption Process Model (77).…”

Mobile gaming: Industry challenges and policy implications

“…These new policy options would be closely linked to serious games, 26 which comprise, rather vaguely, all games with purposes complementary to entertainment, such as training skills or promoting given values or behaviours (Susi, Johannesson, & Backlund, 2007). In spite of the many opportunities for so-called mobile edutainment (De Freitas & Griffiths, 2008) and apart from a few exceptions in the health domain and some educational games for children (see Pollak et al, 2010), the landscape of mobile serious games is rather disappointing.…”