Games for Increasing Physical Activity: Mechanisms for Change

Computer Vision-Based Unobtrusive Physical Activity Monitoring in School by Room-Level Physical Activity Estimation: A Method Proposition

As sedentary lifestyles and childhood obesity are becoming more prevalent, research in the field of physical activity (PA) has gained much momentum. Monitoring the PA of children and adolescents is crucial for ascertaining and understanding the phenomena that facilitate and hinder PA in order to develop effective interventions for promoting physically active habits. Popular individual-level measures are sensitive to social desirability bias and subject reactivity. Intrusiveness of these methods, especially when studying children, also limits the possible duration of monitoring and assumes strict submission to human research ethics requirements and vigilance in personal data protection. Meanwhile, growth in computational capacity has enabled computer vision researchers to successfully use deep learning algorithms for real-time behaviour analysis such as action recognition. This work analyzes the weaknesses of existing methods used in PA research; gives an overview of relevant advances in video-based action recognition methods; and proposes the outline of a novel action intensity classifier utilizing sensor-supervised learning for estimating ambient PA. The proposed method, if applied as a distributed privacy-preserving sensor system, is argued to be useful for monitoring the spatio-temporal distribution of PA in schools over long periods and assessing the efficiency of school-based PA interventions.

Efficacy of the Fun For Wellness Online Intervention to Promote Well-Being Actions: A Secondary Data Analysis

OBJECTIVE

Fun For Wellness (FFW) is a new online intervention designed to promote growth in well-being by providing capability-enhancing learning opportunities (e.g., play an interactive game) to participants. The purpose of this study was to provide an initial evaluation of the efficacy of the FFW intervention to increase well-being actions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study design was a secondary data analysis of a large-scale prospective, double-blind, parallel-group randomized controlled trial. Data were collected at baseline and 30 and 60 days postbaseline. A total of 479 adult employees at a major university in the southeast of the United States of America were enrolled. Participants who were randomly assigned to the FFW group were provided with 30 days of 24-hour access to the intervention. A two-class linear regression model with complier average causal effect estimation was fitted to well-being actions scores at 30 and 60 days.

RESULTS

Intent-to-treat analysis provided evidence that the effect of being assigned to the FFW intervention, without considering actual participation in the FFW intervention, had a null effect on each dimension of well-being actions at 30 and 60 days. Participants who complied with the FFW intervention, however, had significantly higher well-being actions scores, compared to potential compliers in the Usual Care group, in the interpersonal dimension at 60 days, and the physical dimension at 30 days.

CONCLUSIONS

Results from this secondary data analysis provide some supportive evidence for both the efficacy of and possible revisions to the FFW intervention in regard to promoting well-being actions.

Pokémon Go: A game changer for the physical inactivity crisis?

There is an urgent need to find novel strategies aimed at motivating people to go outside and move more. Pokémon Go blends a fun smartphone game with real-life, outdoor physical activity. Initial reports suggest it is a successful population level strategy to increase physical activity levels. Further research is needed to understand the long-term risks and benefits of this new game. Free-to-play location-based augmented reality mobile games are likely to be a new model for promoting healthy active living in the future.

Benefits and Factors Influencing the Design of Intergenerational Digital Games: A Systematic Literature Review

The main purpose of this paper is to review the benefits and factors to be taken into consideration for the design of intergenerational digital games. We conducted a systematic in Scopus, Web of Science, PsicInfo, Pubmed and Science Direct, finally including 16 empirical studies written in English. The identified benefits were found to fall into four main categories, i.e., (1) reinforcing family bond, (2) enhancing reciprocal learning (3) increasing understanding of the other generation and (4) reducing social anxiety. According to the literature, two types of factors are important to take into consideration: player-centric and game-centric factors. We identified the nature of the interactions between older (55–81 year-olds) and younger players (4–22 year-olds), their motivations to play digital games and the difference in abilities as the main player-centric factors to take into account when designing intergenerational games. The most relevant game-centric factors were found to be goal-related and space-related forms of interaction. To gain more insight into how specific benefits of playing digital games are related to a type of game, gender or age of the participant, additional empirical studies (comparative analyses), that take these factors into account are needed.

Commercial Video Games As Therapy: A New Research Agenda to Unlock the Potential of a Global Pastime

Emerging research suggests that commercial, off-the-shelf video games have potential applications in preventive and therapeutic medicine. Despite these promising findings, systematic efforts to characterize and better understand this potential have not been undertaken. Serious academic study of the therapeutic potential of commercial video games faces several challenges, including a lack of standard terminology, rapidly changing technology, societal attitudes toward video games, and understanding and accounting for complex interactions between individual, social, and cultural health determinants. As a vehicle to launch a new interdisciplinary research agenda, the present paper provides background information on the use of commercial video games for the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of mental and other health conditions, and discusses ongoing grassroots efforts by online communities to use video games for healing and recovery.

Content Analysis of Anti-Tobacco Videogames: Characteristics, Content, and Qualities

OBJECTIVE

Although the prevalence of adolescent smoking has declined over the past two decades, the rate of decline has slowed. Electronic videogames show promise as an effective tool for health behavior change; however, the current state of tobacco prevention and cessation games has not been previously reviewed or evaluated.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Currently available tobacco-related videogames were identified through online searches and in smartphone application stores. In total, 88 games were systematically coded for characteristics, content, and quality using a reliable and valid coding instrument developed for this research.

RESULTS

The majority of games included at least two components of interactivity (75.0 percent) and at least one mechanism for rewarding (69.3 percent). However, most games lacked a story line (97.7 percent) and components for sense of control (25.0 percent). There were an average of 3.54 (standard deviation = 2.20) theoretical constructs in the games, with attitudes (83.0 percent), knowledge (78.4 percent), and perceived severity (55.7 percent) being the most common. The most common educational approach used was the affective education model (83.0 percent). Most games included at least one tobacco message (90.9 percent), with a majority of messages being loss-framed (63.6 percent) and/or one-sided (75.0 percent).

CONCLUSIONS

Although today's anti-tobacco videogames contain many effective features, numerous qualities and best practices for changing behaviors through games are not present. Future games should seek to address these best practices in their development and evaluation to increase the likelihood they will be effective.