MyPlate Picks: Development and Initial Evaluation of Feasibility, Acceptability, and Impact of an Educational Exergame to Help Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in Children

Abstract

Objective: Obesity in children is a serious public health concern. Technology-based games that incorporate physical activity and nutrition education create an opportunity to engage youth to promote healthy behavior change to help address the obesity problem. ''MyPlate Picks'' (MPP) is a new digital educational exergame designed to facilitate movement, provide knowledge, enhance motivation, and encourage behavior change related to healthy eating and physical activity in youth. This article describes the development, formative work, and initial evaluation of the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes. Materials and Methods: Development and formative testing was conducted. MPP focuses on physical activity and three ''MyPlate'' nutrition education areas: ''make half your plate fruits and vegetables''; ''avoid oversized portions''; and ''drink water instead of sugary drinks''; and it provides opportunity for movement during gameplay. Two phases and multiple pilot groups of youth aged 7 to 13 years attending nutrition education programs (N = 48) were conducted by using single-group pre-post designs. The first phase (n = 21) examined individual and team gameplay, and the second phase (n = 27) focused only on team gameplay. A self-report survey included questions on knowledge, acceptability, and behavioral intention. Knowledge scores from gameplay logs were also examined for the individual gameplay group. Results: Across pilots, youth showed a mean increase of 11.8% on the knowledge survey. In-game knowledge scores in the individual gameplay group also showed a 12.5% increase in knowledge scores. Examination of post-gameplay behavioral intentions found strong reported intentions to eat more fruits and vegetables and get more physical activity. Majority of the youth reported that the game was a lot of fun. Conclusions: The formative work and initial evaluation of MPP shows promising results for knowledge and behavioral intentions. The youth reported that the team play approach was more fun. Future evaluation is needed to examine the game in larger groups and by using other implementation approaches.

Design of a Digital Game Intervention to Promote Socio-Emotional Skills and Prosocial Behavior in Children

“…The web-based interactive social simulation game was developed using a series of software and user-experience principles (described in detail in Table 6). The Living Lab sessions with children include feasibility and acceptability testing, usability, game appeal and comprehension, as well as alpha-testing (to examine elements of the game) and beta-testing (to identify technical problems) [73,74].…”

Improving Serious Games to Tackle Childhood Obesity

“…To date, four research groups took the initiative to develop multidisciplinary serious games including different game modules that can be used to promote healthy behaviors in children with obesity. Three of them were recently published ( Espinosa-Curiel et al, 2020 ; Mack et al, 2020 ; Ruggiero et al, 2020 ), while one is still in progress ( Mâsse et al, 2020 ). The overall content (i.e., available online) and outcome goals were to provide knowledge, enhance motivation, and encourage behavior change related to healthy eating, PA, and stress coping.…”

“…No changes at the behavioral level (e.g., media consumption and PA level) occurred because of the study focus (i.e., nutrition education) and design. Ruggiero et al (2020) assessed the effects of the “MyPlate Picks” game among children aged 7–13 years, indicating that players enhanced their motivation, and increased their nutrition knowledge about healthy eating and PA after 6 weeks of gameplay. Interestingly, findings clarified that the use of a team approach for youth was more acceptable and feasible than individual gameplay.…”

“…The last type aimed to provide knowledge, enhance motivation, and encourage behavior change related to healthy eating, PA, and stress coping (i.e., multidisciplinary serious games). Current studies showed that playing serious games might contribute to tackling childhood obesity ( Mack et al, 2020 ; Ruggiero et al, 2020 ). Despite the major importance of this finding, the use of serious games as a validated intervention in clinical practice requires further clarifications on some methodological aspects ( Lu et al, 2013 ; Dias et al, 2018 ).…”

A Serious Game on the First-Aid Procedure in Choking Scenarios: Design and Evaluation Study

“…Regarding games that involve behavior, exergames are the most representative of this category. These games incorporate physical activity in the gameplay and can be used for different purposes such as physical activity encouragement [ 30 - 33 ] or rehabilitation to recover from brain injuries, cognitive impairments [ 34 ], or motor deficiencies [ 35 , 36 ]. Finally, with respect to the games that influence health precursors, some examples are games that reduce stress and anxiety [ 37 ], deal with depression [ 38 ], or prepare for cancer treatments [ 39 ].…”