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Video Game Play

An Evidence-Based Practice

Description

This program utilized two videogames called “Escape from Diab” (Diab) and “Nanoswarm: Invasion from Inner Space” (Nano) to promote healthier behavior changes to reduce adverse health effects such as obesity and cardiovascular diseases amongh youth aged 10-12. Each game comprises of nine sessions and each session has about 40 minutes of game-play. The games provide information to help facilitate changing health behaviors. Intervention group participants were loaned 24-inch iMac computers with Diab and Nano installed, which were designed to change behavior. Researchers kept in touch with intervention participants by keeping track of a participant’s completion of each session through organization of email messages, answering questions, and aiding with technical malfunctions.

Goal / Mission

The goal of this study was to investigate how video games can be utilized to promote healthy behavior changes in diet, physical activity, and adiposity to reduce adverse health effects.

Results / Accomplishments

For this study, a randomized control trial was conducted on a total of 153 children who were randomly assigned to either an intervention or control group. Assessments of outcome were conducted at several periods including at baseline, between games, immediately post-game, and 2 months post-game periods. At each post assessment period, a significant difference in fruit and vegetable consumption outcome was observed between treatment and control groups (p’s < 0.05). Overall, children playing these video games increased fruit and vegetable consumption by about 0.67 servings per day (p < 0.018), but there were no significant effects for the other variables, such as physical activity and body composition.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
Baylor College of Medicine
Primary Contact
Dipali Pathak
USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston TX 77030-2600
pathak@bcm.edu
https://www.bcm.edu/news/diabetes/video-game-resul...
Topics
Health / Physical Activity
Health / Children's Health
Organization(s)
Baylor College of Medicine
Source
American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Date of publication
Jan 2011
Date of implementation
2008
Location
Texas, North Carolina
For more details
Target Audience
Children, Teens
Submitted By
Priscilla Chang, Shao Huang, Frederick Wang - UC Berkeley School of Public Health