Rango Cards, a digital game designed to promote a healthy diet: a randomized study protocol

Abstract

BackgroundSeveral food and nutrition education actions have been described in the literature, with emphasis on the recommended use of innovative methods when addressing a young audience. Digital games are an attractive, dynamic, and motivating resource for teaching and learning practices, and adolescents form the group that readily accepts and adopts new technologies. Adapting dietary and nutritional guidelines to change dietary behavior is a challenge, and game-based learning has several benefits that can be used in this sense. Thus, this study aims to outline a nutritional intervention for school-aged adolescents from the Federal District, Brazil, whose object is a digital card game aimed at promoting healthy dietary practices.MethodsIn this randomized study with intervention and control groups, we propose a nutritional intervention for adolescents studying in Federal District private schools. The intervention group will be introduced to Rango Cards, a digital game specifically developed for this study. The purpose of the game is to present the concept of an adequate and healthy diet using simple information in a playful context. This game features cards for foods/meals, characters, and healthy habits. The players’ choices may lead them to winning or losing. Theme selection and phase order were designed to provide a learning experience. The control group will not receive any material during the study. Both groups will complete questionnaires before and after the intervention. The game is expected to improve food knowledge and self-efficacy in the adoption of healthy practices, thus contributing to appropriate dietary consumption.DiscussionThe game was designed as a food and nutrition education tool based on Brazilian dietary guidelines. We believe that Rango Cards will provide a comprehensive experience on the topic, improving the students’ autonomy, motivation, and pleasure of learning.Trial registrationRBR-72zvxv June 29, 2018; Retrospectively registered.

Effects of the Rango Cards game intervention on food consumption, nutritional knowledge and self-efficacy in the adoption of healthy eating practices of high school students: a cluster randomised controlled trial

“…This study had no exclusion criteria. Additional sampling information has been published elsewhere (23) .…”

“…Rango Cards is free, in Portuguese, compatible with Android and iOS devices and available from Google Play and App Store since April 2017. More information about the game can be found in Chagas et al (23) .…”

Effects of a nutritional intervention using pictorial representations for promoting knowledge and practices of healthy eating among Brazilian adolescents

“…The images were used to address topics involving the amount of sugar and fat present in food, healthy food substitutions, and fruit and vegetable consumption [ 7 ]. For adolescents, a nutritional intervention to promote healthy dietary practices is currently under way in Brazil [ 10 ]. The intervention involves a digital card game that is installed in student-owned mobile devices where the cards, differentiated by color, represent healthy and unhealthy foods, meals, and dietary practices.…”

Serious games and eating behaviors: A systematic review of the last 5 years (2018–2022)

“…Also, Mack et al ( 55 ) proved through the development of different serious games, that these games increase the nutritional knowledge of the player, enhancing the positive attitude toward healthy food intake and their coping ability. In the same way, Chagas et al ( 57 ) developed Helperfriend, a serious game based on behavior change techniques (BCT) to moderate physical activities, eating behavior and socio-emotional behavior. In line with previous scholars, their study confirmed the effectiveness of games in improving the dietary knowledge of the player and food intake behavior.…”