The Psychological Effects of Exergames for Children and Adolescents with Obesity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

The systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to analyze the psychological effects of exergames for children and adolescents with overweight or obesity. In August 2018, the electronic databases searched were PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, Science Direct, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. The eligibility criteria were defined according to the population, intervention, comparison, outcome, and study design. In relation to the population, only studies with children or adolescents with overweight or obesity and without any other comorbidities were analyzed. Only publications in English were considered. Nine studies were selected. The comparisons identified were in relation to weight, type of activity, and play style versus control and preintervention. The magnitude of effect size suggests that the practice of exergaming has a small effect on psychological outcomes. Furthermore, cooperative games produced greater attraction to the game (g = 4.71, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.23-6.19) and greater intrinsic motivation (g = 5.29; 95% CI = 3.68-6.90). It was verified that self-esteem (standard mean difference [SMD] = 0.37; 95% CI = 0.09-0.66), and self-efficacy (SMD = 0.42; 95% CI = 0.06-0.79) improved after playing an exergame. This systematic review and metaanalysis suggest that exergames may be effective in improving psychological aspects of children and adolescents with overweight or obesity. Given the limited number of studies, it is essential to increase scientific research in this area.

Active Video Games for Improving Mental Health and Physical Fitness—An Alternative for Children and Adolescents during Social Isolation: An Overview

“…Seventeen studies were included [18,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45], from which 7 were systematic reviews and meta-analysis [18,32,33,36,37,44,45]. All studies focused on children and adolescents of both sexes with an age ranged from 3 to 19 years.…”

“…Ten systematic reviews presented data on physical fitness, here defined as maximal oxygen uptake, heart rate, energy intake, and increased physical activity of children/adolescents [18,30,31,34,36,38,[41][42][43][44]. Seven reviews of predominantly low to moderate quality showed the effects of AVGs on some aspects of physical functioning [18,30,36,38,[41][42][43].…”

“…Ten systematic reviews presented data on physical fitness, here defined as maximal oxygen uptake, heart rate, energy intake, and increased physical activity of children/adolescents [18,30,31,34,36,38,[41][42][43][44]. Seven reviews of predominantly low to moderate quality showed the effects of AVGs on some aspects of physical functioning [18,30,36,38,[41][42][43]. The responses induced by AVGs are greater when compared to children and adolescents who demonstrate sedentary behaviors, showing substantial effects on energy expenditure, on the heart rate identified during the intervention with exergames, on the rate of perceived effort, and on the maximum consumption of oxygen (VO2 max) [18,30,34,38,[42][43][44].…”

“…Seven reviews of predominantly low to moderate quality showed the effects of AVGs on some aspects of physical functioning [18,30,36,38,[41][42][43]. The responses induced by AVGs are greater when compared to children and adolescents who demonstrate sedentary behaviors, showing substantial effects on energy expenditure, on the heart rate identified during the intervention with exergames, on the rate of perceived effort, and on the maximum consumption of oxygen (VO2 max) [18,30,34,38,[42][43][44]. In addition, seven reviews [18,30,34,38,[42][43][44] analyzed the effects of exergames on physical activity levels.…”

Effect of practice exergames on the mood states and self-esteem of elementary school boys and girls during physical education classes: A cluster-randomized controlled natural experiment

“…Especially in children, the impact of early inclusion into digital electronic activities has sparked interest in research on learning, sleep, and the relationship between these electronic activities and their effect on well-being and mental health [6][7][8][9]. Despite the negative effects, it has recently become possible to observe the potential benefits that technology can have on mental health and the involvement of physical activity [10][11][12][13].…”