Reflecting public health interest in the potential of exergames to encourage PA , many review s of this literature have appeared.18 - 20 Some review s have been sympathetic,21,22 whereas others have been critical.23,24 A reasonably balanced assessment revealed that , in research laboratories , exergames could provide an intense workout that included moderate-to-vigorous PA  , but under less-supervised circumstances , children tended not to get much activity18 and their interest in the activity waned over 1 week or less .
Video games , the most commonly enjoyed medium by this generation of children , generates more money than Hollywood productions .
Forty percent of these studies influenced obesity or obesogenic behavior in the desired directions.12 A roundtable discussion of investigators of G4H and obesity indicated substantial potential for video games to reduce child obesity , but emphasized the need for games to be fun , not just health promoting.13 Some of the obesity-related studies used games specially design ed to target diet and /or PA change outside the games.14 - 17 " Squire 's Quest ! , "
Creating action plans in a serious video game increases and maintains child fruit-vegetable intake: a randomized controlled trial
Background Child fruit and vegetable intake is below recommended levels , increasing risk for chronic disease . Interventions to influence fruit and vegetable intake among youth have had mixed effects . Innovative , theory-driven interventions are needed . Goal setting , enhanced by implementation intentions ( i.e. , plans tightly connected to a behavioral goal ) , may offer a solution . Action plans state “ how ” a goal will be achieved , while coping plans identify a potential barrier and corresponding solution . The research reported here evaluated the short- and long-term effects of goal setting enhanced with implementation intentions on child fruit and vegetable intake in a 10-episode , theoretically-grounded serious videogame promoting fruit and vegetables . This is one of the first studies to test the efficacy of implementation intentions on the dietary intake of healthy children . Methods A four-group r and omized design with three data collection periods ( baseline , immediate post-intervention , 3 months post-intervention ) was employed . Groups varied on whether children created an implementation intention ( none , action , coping , both ) as part of goal setting . Participants were 4th and 5th grade children ( ~9 - 11 years old ) and one parent . An a priori power analysis indicated this would provide > 80 % power to detect a small effect ( Cohen ’s d = 0.17 ) . Children played a 10-episode online videogame ; parents received 10 electronic newsletters and access to a parent-only website . The primary outcome was child fruit and vegetable intake , assessed via three , dietitian-assisted telephone recalls at each data collection period . The primary analysis was conducted using a repeated measures analysis of covariance with a mixed model procedure . Secondary analyses examined intervention effects on fruit and vegetables separately . Results Four hundred parent/child dyads were recruited . A significant group-by-time interaction for fruit and vegetable intake ( p < 0.001 ) was found in only the Action group , which had significant increases in fruit and vegetable intake at post 1 ( p < 0.0001 ) and post 2 ( p < 0.0001 ) . No other significant interactions were observed ; however , there were significant time effects for fruit ( p < 0.0001 ) . Conclusions Action intentions may be an important component of successful interventions to increase and maintain fruit and vegetable intake in pre-adolescent children .  Videogames promoting healthy diets offer an effective vehicle for delivering behavior change interventions to children . Trial registration Clinical Trials.gov NCT01004094
Reflecting public health interest in the potential of exergames to encourage PA , many review s of this literature have appeared.18 - 20 Some review s have been sympathetic,21,22 whereas others have been critical.23,24 A reasonably balanced assessment revealed that , in research laboratories , exergames could provide an intense workout that included moderate-to-vigorous PA  , but under less-supervised circumstances , children tended not to get much activity18 and their interest in the activity waned over 1 week or less .
Video games , the most commonly enjoyed medium by this generation of children , generates more money than Hollywood productions .
Forty percent of these studies influenced obesity or obesogenic behavior in the desired directions.12 A roundtable discussion of investigators of G4H and obesity indicated substantial potential for video games to reduce child obesity , but emphasized the need for games to be fun , not just health promoting.13 Some of the obesity-related studies used games specially design ed to target diet and /or PA change outside the games.14 - 17 " Squire 's Quest ! , "