A meta-analysis of serious digital games for healthy lifestyle promotion

PREVENTIVE MEDICINE

卷:69

Review

DeSmet, Ann¹  Van Ryckeghem, Dimitri²  Compernolle, Sofie¹  Baranowski, Tom³  Thompson, Debbe³  Crombez, Geert²  Poels, Karolien^2,4  Van Lippevelde, Wendy⁵  Bastiaensens, Sara⁴  Van Cleemput, Katrien⁴  Vandebosch, Heidi⁴  De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse¹ 

[1] Univ Ghent, Fac Med & Hlth Sci, Dept Movement & Sports Sci, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium

[2] Univ Ghent, Dept Expt Clin & Hlth Psychol, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium

[3] Baylor Coll Med, Dept Pediat, Childrens Nutr Res Ctr, Houston, TX 77030 USA

[4] Univ Antwerp, Fac Polit & Social Sci, Dept Commun Studies, Antwerp, Belgium

[5] Univ Ghent, Fac Med & Hlth Sci, Dept Publ Hlth, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium

关键词: Serious games;    Digital games;    Systematic review;    Meta-analysis;    Tailoring;    Multicomponent;    Health promotion;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.08.026

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Several systematic reviews have described health-promoting effects of serious games but so far no meta-analysis has been reported. This paper presents a meta-analysis of 54 serious digital game studies for healthy lifestyle promotion, in which we investigated the overall effectiveness of serious digital games on healthy lifestyle promotion outcomes and the role of theoretically and clinically important moderators. Findings showed that serious games have small positive effects on healthy lifestyles (g = 0.260,95% CI 0.148; 0.373) and their determinants (g = 0.334, 95% CI 0.260; 0.407), especially for knowledge. Effects on clinical outcomes were significant, but much smaller (g = 0.079, 95% CI 0.038; 0.120). Long-term effects were maintained for all outcomes except for behavior. Serious games are best individually tailored to both socio-demographic and change need information, and benefit from a strong focus on game theories or a dual theoretical foundation in both behavioral prediction and game theories. They can be effective either as a stand-alone or multi-component programs, and appeal to populations regardless of age and gender. Given that effects of games remain heterogeneous, further explorations of which game features create larger effects are needed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free