Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Aug 16, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Aug 22, 2018 - Oct 8, 2018
Date Accepted: Feb 17, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Adolescents talk about physical activity, exergaming and virtual reality: a qualitative intervention development study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Novel strategies to promote PA in adolescence are urgently required. The vEngage study ultimately aims to test whether a virtual reality (VR) exergaming intervention can produce sustained increases in PA in adolescents. However, an essential part of intervention development is to conduct formative work with target users.
Objective:
This study aimed to gather adolescents’ views of using VR to encourage physical activity (PA) and identify the key features they would like to see in a VR exergaming intervention.
Methods:
Participants were recruited through two schools in London, UK. Semi-structured interviews were conducted asking adolescents about their views on PA and what might work to increase PA, technology, knowledge and experience of VR and desired features in a VR exergaming intervention. Data were analysed using Framework Analysis.
Results:
A total of 31 13-15 year olds (58% female, 62% from non-white ethnicities) participated. The vast majority had no awareness of government PA recommendations, but felt they should be informed. All had heard of VR and more than half had tried it. Participants were overwhelmingly positive about the use of VR for PA promotion. Rewards, increasing challenges, and including a social/multiplayer aspect were all identified by participants as crucial aspects to include in a VR exercise game. Barriers were discussed, particularly the cost of high-end systems. However, being able to exercise at the home was very appealing. Additionally, using VR exergaming was viewed as a way to overcome multiple perceived social and cultural barriers to PA, particularly for girls. The current popularity of smartphones and interest in PA tracking in this age group suggest including these in an intervention would enhance reach.
Conclusions:
The use of VR to promote PA in adolescents is very promising, and the appeal to girls is particularly encouraging. However, important concerns and barriers were raised, and key elements that should be incorporated into a VR for health intervention were identified.
Citation

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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.