A Serious Game for the Prevention of Obesity in School Children–Impact of Parent’s Involvement: A Randomized Controlled Trial

• Published in: Life (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 12; no. 6; p. 779
• Main Authors: Weiland, Alisa, Reiband, Nadine, Schäffeler, Norbert, Zurstiege, Guido, Giel, Katrin Elisabeth, Zipfel, Stephan, Mack, Isabelle
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 24.05.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Acceptance; Children; Children & youth; Clinical trials; Computer & video games; Coping; Eating behavior; Educational software; Energy; Evaluation; Families & family life; family involvement; Food; Games; Hypotheses; Interactive control; Knowledge; Nutrition; Nutrition research; Obesity; Overweight; Parent participation; Parents; Parents & parenting; Physical activity; Prevention; psychology; serious game; Germany
• ISSN: 2075-1729; 2075-1729
• DOI: 10.3390/life12060779

Serious games convey information and use interactive components to reinforce and train behaviours. A serious game addressing nutrition, physical activity and stress coping—the Kids Obesity Prevention Program (KOP)—was previously evaluated for efficacy in children. This study aimed at evaluating the KOP-game regarding: (i) its acceptance and efficacy with respect to parents of primary school children receiving the same game intervention as the children; and (ii) whether the children could benefit by parental involvement. A randomized controlled trial with two groups of children aged 9 to 12 years was conducted which included a 6-month follow-up period. All children played the game twice in two weeks. In the family-intervention group, the parents additionally played the game. The primary outcome was the gain in knowledge in parents and children measured with a pretested questionnaire. The secondary outcomes were knowledge maintenance as well as several behavior changes. Parents and children in both groups improved and maintained their knowledge equally. The KOP-game increases knowledge of nutrition in children independently of the involvement of their parents. KOP games are well accepted in children; further research should examine the structured involvement of parents.