Espinosa-Curiel Ismael Edrein, Pozas-Bogarin Edgar Efrén, Hernández-Arvizu Maryleidi, Navarro-Jiménez Maria Elena, Delgado-Pérez Edwin Emeth, Martínez-Miranda Juan, Pérez-Espinosa Humberto
Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, Unidad de Transferencia Tecnológica Tepic, Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico.
Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones en Comportamiento, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
JMIR Serious Games. 2022 May 6;10(2):e33412. doi: 10.2196/33412.
The use of health games is a promising strategy for educating and promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors among children.
We aimed to describe the design and development of a serious game, called HelperFriend, and evaluate its feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects in children in a pilot study. HelperFriend is a vicarious experiential video game designed to promote 3 lifestyle behaviors among young children: physical activity, healthy eating, and socioemotional wellness.
Participants aged 8 to 11 years were recruited from an elementary school and randomized to receive a healthy lifestyle behavior educational talk (control) or play six 30-minute sessions with HelperFriend (intervention). Assessments were conducted at baseline (T0) and after the intervention (ie, 4 weeks) (T1). The primary outcome was gain in knowledge. The secondary outcomes were intention to conduct healthy behaviors, dietary intake, and player satisfaction.
Knowledge scores of intervention group participants increased from T0 to T1 for physical activity (t=2.01, P=.03), healthy eating (t=3.14, P=.003), and socioemotional wellness (t=2.75, P=.008). In addition, from T0 to T1, the intervention group improved their intention to perform physical activity (t=2.82, P=.006), healthy eating (t=3.44, P=.002), and socioemotional wellness (t=2.65, P=.009); and there was a reduction in their intake of 13 unhealthy foods. HelperFriend was well received by intervention group.
HelperFriend appears to be feasible and acceptable for young children. In addition, this game seems to be a viable tool to help improve the knowledge, the intention to conduct healthy behaviors, and the dietary intake of children; however, a well-powered randomized controlled trial is needed to prove the efficacy of HelperFriend.
使用健康游戏是教育和促进儿童健康生活方式行为的一种有前景的策略。
我们旨在描述一款名为“HelperFriend”的严肃游戏的设计与开发，并在一项试点研究中评估其在儿童中的可行性、可接受性和初步效果。“HelperFriend”是一款替代性体验视频游戏，旨在促进幼儿的三种生活方式行为：体育活动、健康饮食和社会情感健康。
从一所小学招募8至11岁的参与者，并随机分为接受健康生活方式行为教育讲座（对照组）或与“HelperFriend”进行六个30分钟的游戏环节（干预组）。在基线（T0）和干预后（即4周后）（T1）进行评估。主要结果是知识的增加。次要结果是进行健康行为的意愿、饮食摄入和玩家满意度。
干预组参与者在体育活动方面的知识得分从T0到T1有所增加（t = 2.01，P = 0.03），在健康饮食方面（t = 3.14，P = 0.003）以及社会情感健康方面（t = 2.75，P = 0.008）。此外，从T0到T1，干预组在进行体育活动的意愿方面有所改善（t = 2.82，P = 0.006），在健康饮食方面（t = 3.44，P = 0.002）以及社会情感健康方面（t = 2.65，P = 0.009）；并且他们对13种不健康食品的摄入量有所减少。“HelperFriend”受到了干预组的好评。
“HelperFriend”对幼儿似乎是可行且可接受的。此外，这款游戏似乎是帮助提高儿童知识、进行健康行为的意愿以及饮食摄入的一种可行工具；然而，需要一项有足够效力的随机对照试验来证明“HelperFriend”的有效性。
