Methodology of an exercise intervention program using social incentives and gamification for obese children

Abstract

Background Traditional exercise [supervised exercise (SE)] intervention has been proved to be one of the most effective ways to improve metabolic health. However, most exercise interventions were on a high-cost and small scale, moreover lacking of the long-term effect due to low engagement. On the other hand, it was noteworthy that gamification and social incentives were promising strategies to increase engagement and sustain exercise interventions effects; as well as mobile technologies such as WeChat also can provide an appropriate platform to deploy interventions on a broader, low-cost scale. Thus, we aim to develop a novel exercise intervention (‘S&G exercise intervention’) that combines SE intervention with gamification and social incentives design through WeChat, with the aim of improving metabolic health and poor behaviors among overweight and obesity children. Methods We propose a randomized controlled trial of a ‘S&G exercise intervention’ among 420 overweight and obese children who have at least one marker of metabolic syndrome. Children will be randomized to control or intervention group in a 1:1 ratio. The exercise intervention package includes intervention designs based on integrated social incentives and gamification theory, involving targeted essential volume and intensity of activity (skipping rope) as well as monitoring daily information and providing health advice by WeChat. Participants will undertake assessments at baseline, at end of intervention period, in the follow-up time at months 3,6,12. The primary outcome is outcome of metabolic health. Secondary outcomes include behavioral (e.g., diary physical activity, diet) and anthropometric measures (e.g., body fat rate and muscle mass). Discussions This will be the first study to design an exercise intervention model that combines traditional supervised exercise (SE) intervention with gamification and social incentives theory through WeChat. We believed that this study could explore a low-cost, easy-to-popularize, and effective exercise intervention model for improving metabolic health and promote healthy among obese children. Furthermore, it will also provide important evidence for guidelines to prevent and improve metabolic health and health behaviors. Trial registration 10-04-2019;Registration number: ChiCTR1900022396 .

Indicators of lipid metabolism disorders in the blood serum of adolescents with metabolic syndrome

“…Therefore, the obtained results fully correspond to the literature data about lipid profile in patients with obesity and indicate in favor of proatherogenic potential, more pronounced on the background of MS [16][17][18]. In particular MS is characterized by a li-pid triad, which is represented by high values of TG, LDL cholesterol and low values of HDL cholesterol, which increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases even in the absence of carbohydrate metabolism disorders and hypertension [19,20].…”

Nutrition Peculiarities of Ukrainian Adolescents With Metabolic Syndrome

“…These results confirm the current ideas about obesity as a psychosomatic disease, in the origin of which both psychological and somatic factors play a role [16,17,18]. The psychological effects of childhood obesity on the patient and his or her family require screening for mental health and counseling if needed.…”

Social Media Use for Health Purposes: Systematic Review

“…Second, social media was used to support interaction with audience including engaging campaign audiences in 2-way communication with the institutions and health professionals [47,48] and providing platforms for peer support group discussion [49]. Third, social media was used to motivate health behavior change; intervention participants used social media to document and share their own progress of health behavior change such as uploading a picture of an everyday healthy meal [50] and sharing virtual awards of weekly achievement in physical activities [51], setting group challenges toward health goals [52], and engaging in health behavior competition with peers [53]. Last, at the preparing stage of an intervention, social media was also used to reach broader and more varied populations, including hard-to-reach populations [54,55].…”