Abstract
“Serious games” are a novel and entertaining approach for nutritional education. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the short-term effectiveness of “Fit, Food, Fun” (FFF), a serious game to impart nutritional knowledge among children and adolescents. Data collection was conducted at two secondary schools in Bavaria, Germany. The gameplay intervention (gameplay group; GG) consisted of a 15-minute FFF gameplay session during each of three consecutive days. The teaching intervention (teaching group; TG) was performed in a classic lecture format. Nutritional knowledge was evaluated via questionnaires at baseline and post-intervention. Statistical analyses were performed using R (R Core Team, 2018). In total, baseline data were available for 39 participants in the GG and 44 participants in the TG. The mean age was 13.5 ± 0.7 years in the GG and 12.8 ± 0.9 years in the TG. There was a significant (p-value < 0.001) improvement in nutritional knowledge in both intervention groups. Moreover, a between-group difference with a significantly (p-value = 0.01) higher increase in nutritional knowledge was detected for the TG. This pilot study provides evidence for the short-term effectiveness of both educational interventions on the improvement in nutritional knowledge. Finally, the FFF game might be an adequate educational tool for the transfer of nutritional knowledge among children and adolescents.
Highlights
The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents increased10-fold from 11 million in 1975, to 124 million in 2016 [1]
95 children and adolescents were enrolled in the study
This study revealed that the game group showed significantly improved nutritional knowledge compared to the non-treatment control group [31]
Summary
The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents increased. 10-fold from 11 million in 1975, to 124 million in 2016 [1]. In Germany, the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents (3 to 17 years) is estimated at 15% and 6%, respectively, with increasing trends in later life [2]. School entry and school age are associated with a considerable increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity. Established prevention programs (e.g., nutritional education) aim to address this health challenge. Besides these traditional approaches, “serious games” are novel digital tools for educational purposes. Serious games are games which are applied in non-gaming contexts [3], and have motivational and enjoyable characteristics [4,5,6]
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