Gamified Interventions for Obesity and Overweight Prevention and Treatment: A Scoping Review

Obesity and overweight affect approximately 30% of the world's population. These conditions present a global challenge, as they lead to morbidity and the development of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Various strategies are available to address obesity and overweight. Nonpharmacological strategies include therapeutic patient education, which employs novel approaches to inform and engage patients, including gamification, the integration of gaming elements into nongaming contexts.

This scoping review aimed to explore, map, and investigate gamified tools for obesity and overweight prevention and treatment, as well as their effectiveness.

The review was conducted in accordance with the JBI guidelines for scoping reviews and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist. Searches were conducted in MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycInfo, Embase, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library.

Six articles, primarily from the United States and published within the last eight years, were included in the review. Three main themes emerged: the use of gamification to reduce weight, the use of gamification to encourage physical activity, and the use of gamification to facilitate behavior change (adoption of a healthy diet).

Further research should be conducted on the use of gamification to prevent and treat obesity and overweight, because it seems to be effective in certain subpopulations and for reaching specific outcomes.