Moving Beyond the Stigma: Systematic Review of Video Games and Their Potential to Combat Obesity

Guy, Stacey; Ratzki‐Leewing, Alexandria; Gwadry-Sridhar, Femida

doi:10.4061/2011/179124

Cited by 101 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…3,4 Two reviews reported that health videogames improved diet and physical activity in children. 5,6 This promising initial work led Read and Shortell 7 to advocate for research on whether health videogames facilitate behavior change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acceptability of an Online Health Videogame to Improve Diet and Physical Activity in Elementary School Students: “Fitter Critters”

Schneider

Ferrara²,

Lance³

et al. 2012

Games for Health Journal

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Objective: Interest in health videogames to stimulate health behavior change is increasing, yet little research exists on their use. This study tested the acceptability of an online health videogame called ''Fitter CrittersÔ'' (Megazoid Games, Collegeville, PA) for improving healthy diet and activity in elementary school students. Subjects and Methods: In October and November 2011, fifth grade students (n = 97) from a school in central Massachusetts played the game for 1 week during their health class. Measures of nutrition and activity knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy were completed prior to playing the game and again on the final day along with a videogame acceptability questionnaire. Results: The videogame was highly acceptable to participants as measured by the acceptability questionnaire mean rating of 4.52 (SD = 0.60), where 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree; 73% of students played the game at least once outside of class. Significant increases in positive attitudes toward healthy eating (P < 0.001) and healthy eating self-efficacy (P = 0.02) and marginally significant increases in nutrition knowledge (P = 0.08) were observed. Conclusions: The ''Fitter Critters'' health videogame engages students in learning about healthy eating and activity. Further research should assess whether the positive changes observed in knowledge, attitudes, and selfefficacy translate into behavior change.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acceptability of an Online Health Videogame to Improve Diet and Physical Activity in Elementary School Students: “Fitter Critters”

Schneider

Ferrara²,

Lance³

et al. 2012

Games for Health Journal

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“…23 Two reviews have indicated that serious videogames have resulted to some improvements in diet and PA in children. 23,24 Serious videogames are specially designed to entertain players as they educate, train, or change behavior. 25 Children in the United States spend roughly a third of every weekday, equivalent to about 32.5 hours a week, in schools, making schools an ideal place for implementing behavior change interventions.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“Creature-101”: A Serious Game to Promote Energy Balance-Related Behaviors Among Middle School Adolescents

Majumdar

Koch

Lee

et al. 2013

Games for Health Journal

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Background: Considering adolescents' heavy use of media, serious videogames may provide an engaging and innovative way to achieve positive impact on adolescents' diet and physical activity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of playing a serious game, ''Creature-101'' (developed by Teachers College, Columbia University [New York, NY] and Stottler Henke Inc. [San Mateo, CA]), at promoting energy balancerelated behaviors (EBRBs) such as increasing fruits and vegetables intake, water intake, and physical activity and decreasing processed snacks intake, sweetened beverages intake, and recreational screen time. Subjects and Methods: This pre-post intervention-control study (n = 590) was conducted in New York City lowincome public middle schools. The students (11-13 years of age, 51.6 percent male) played ''Creature-101'' online in science/health education classes (seven sessions, 30 minutes each session for 1 month). ''Creature-101'' used behavioral theories as the framework for ''creature care'' in a world ''Tween.'' Students were provided with scientific evidence that promoted energy balance through minigames, educational videos, and slideshows and were motivated with interactive dialogues with game characters. Students also assessed their own behaviors, created their own ''real life'' food and activity goals, and reported their progress. A self-reported, validated, online instrument that measured frequency and amount of targeted behaviors was administered at baseline and post-intervention. Results: Analysis of covariance compared post-test means between groups with pretest scores as covariates. Intervention students reported significant decreases in frequency and amount of consumption of sweetened beverages and processed snacks compared with the controls. No changes were observed for the other behaviors. Conclusions: ''Creature-101'' was effective at reducing consumption of sweetened beverages and processed snacks, which are related to obesity risks, indicating that the game shows promise at promoting EBRBs.

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“…On the study conducted by Silva (2014), the level of intensity found was 82% of maximum heart rate, being characterized as vigorous activity. Some recent research results demonstrate that exergames can also have a positive effect on the body in the mass index and excess body composition and obese children, and it can be a tool to fight against children obesity (Lieberman, 2006;Guy, Ratzki-Leewing, & Gwadry-Sridhar, 2011). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

I CINAPSE – I International Conference of Physical Activity and Health Promotion at School

Júnior¹,

Catunda²,

Garrido

et al. 2017

motricidade

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Moving Beyond the Stigma: Systematic Review of Video Games and Their Potential to Combat Obesity

Cited by 101 publications

References 58 publications

Acceptability of an Online Health Videogame to Improve Diet and Physical Activity in Elementary School Students: “Fitter Critters”

Acceptability of an Online Health Videogame to Improve Diet and Physical Activity in Elementary School Students: “Fitter Critters”

“Creature-101”: A Serious Game to Promote Energy Balance-Related Behaviors Among Middle School Adolescents

I CINAPSE – I International Conference of Physical Activity and Health Promotion at School

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