Abstract
Sports injuries have become a real health concern. Particularly noticeable is the increasing number of severe sports injuries among young people. Sports injury (SI) is a multifactorial event where many internal and external, proximal and remote factors play a role in a recursive way, including physical and psychological variables. Accordingly, many voices expressing the need of tackling that and several prevention programs have arisen. Nevertheless, different barriers and limitations prevent a wide extension of well-controlled programs, closely monitored by highly specialized professionals in ordinary sports grass-root organizations. These have helped flourishing different low intensity (LI)-interventions and e-Health apps focusing on both physical warmup, training and fitness, and mental skills aimed at reducing athlete’s vulnerability to SIs. This kind of intervention usually uses self-administered techniques and/or non-specialized staff that can effectively monitoring the program. In fact, LI-interventions have shown to be effective coping with different health and psychological issues. However, these interventions face an important challenge: the lack of engagement people usually show. The current paper proposes how gamification can contribute to the engagement to such interventions. Based on the mechanics–dynamics–aesthetics framework to analyze game design, the paper suggests a set of guidelines app- and web-LI interventions aimed at preventing SIs should include to foster motivation and reduce attrition.
Highlights
Deterding et al defined gamification as “the use of game design elements in non-game contexts” [1]
It mainly relied on self-help manuals, phone, email and SMS communication though, currently, the pervasiveness of smartphones drove to a new impulse on such kind of approaches that has propelled e-Health
Gamifying low intensity (LI) Interventions Aimed at Preventing Sports injury (SI). Interventions such as the UAMSportPsychapp [47], a LI CBT program centered on muscle tension and attentional focusing as key facets related to the vulnerability to SIs, might become a useful tool
Summary
Deterding et al defined gamification as “the use of game design elements in non-game contexts” [1]. What do games (and, by extension, gamified interventions focused on learning skills and changing behavior) make a useful tool to foster learning skills and promote behavioral change? Plass et al [5,7], distinguish between affective engagement, behavioral engagement, and sociocultural engagement but them all should foster the cognitive engagement in order to reach the learning outcomes. Adaptivity is another aspect authors mentioned as key in effectively promoting learning through games. Personalizing the game to the specific level or situation the learner presents promotes engagement and increases learning outcomes. Adapting the task to the current participant’s skill level, emotional state or any other condition makes the app less susceptible from attrition [8]
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