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Videogames That Encourage Healthy Behavior Did Not Alter Fasting Insulin or Other Diabetes Risks in Children:
Tom Baranowski1, Janice Baranowski1, Tzu-An Chen2
11Department of Pediatrics, USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
Games for Health Journal
|April 10, 2019
Summary
This study found that two role-playing video games did not significantly change diet or physical activity in overweight children, failing to impact obesity and diabetes risk factors. Further research is needed to understand these outcomes in games for health interventions.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric obesity and diabetes prevention
- Behavioral science and digital health interventions
- Clinical trial methodology
Background:
- Previous research suggests video games show promise for improving children's diet and physical activity (PA) for obesity and diabetes prevention.
- However, much of this prior research has lacked scientific rigor.
- This study evaluated the efficacy of two role-playing video games designed to influence health behaviors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the efficacy of two sequential role-playing video games, "Escape from Diab" and "Nanoswarm: Invasion from Inner Space," on diabetes and obesity risk factors.
- To examine the impact of these games on children's diet, PA, and sedentary behavior (SB).
Main Methods:
- A two-group randomized clinical trial was conducted with a treatment group and a wait-list control group.
- Participants included 200 overweight or obese children (ages 10-12) with BMI between the 85th and 99th percentile.
- Assessments included baseline, immediate postintervention (3 months), and 2-month follow-ups, analyzing fasting insulin, BMI, dietary intake, PA, and SB.
Main Results:
- No statistically significant differences were observed between the treatment and control groups for any of the primary or secondary outcome variables.
- This includes measures of fasting insulin, body mass index (BMI), fruit and vegetable intake, sweetened beverage consumption, physical activity, and sedentary behavior.
Conclusions:
- The study's findings suggest that the tested video games may not be effective in changing dietary behaviors or related clinical outcomes in overweight children.
- Potential reasons for the lack of effect include evolving child preferences for video games, productization challenges, and trial management issues.
- Further investigation into the design and implementation of digital health interventions for pediatric obesity and diabetes prevention is warranted.
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