Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Jul 30, 2020
Date Accepted: Apr 2, 2021
Can Garfield make children eat healthier? A cluster-randomized controlled trial to examine the effect of a serious health game on children’s eating behavior.
ABSTRACT
Background:
Currently the dietary intake patterns of children do not meet the prescribed dietary guidelines. Consequently childhood obesity is one of the most serious health concerns and innovative methods need to be developed and tested in order effectively improve the dietary intake of children. Learning children how to cope with the overwhelming number of unhealthy food cues could be conducted effectively by serious health games.
Objective:
The main aim of this study was to examine the effect of a serious health computer game on young children’s eating behavior and attitudes towards healthy and unhealthy foods.
Methods:
A cluster-randomized controlled trial with a between-subject design was conducted (N=157; 8-12 years), whereby children played a game that promoted a healthy lifestyle or were in the control condition. The game was designed in collaboration with researchers and pilot-tested before conducting the experiment among a group of children repeatedly. After one week of playing, attitudes towards food snacks and actual intake was assessed, whereby children could eat at libitum from fruits or energy-dense snacks.
Results:
The results showed that playing a serious health game did not have an effect on the attitude towards fruits or energy-dense snacks and on the intake of fruits or less energy-dense snacks, compared to the control group. Additional Bayesian analyses supported these findings.
Conclusions:
Serious health games are increasingly considered as a potential effective intervention technique when it comes to behavioral change. The results of the current study stress the importance to tailor serious health games in order to be effective, because no effect was found on attitude or eating behavior.
Citation
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Copyright
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