Active Game-Based Solutions for the Treatment of Childhood Obesity

[EN]Obesity is one of the biggest health problems globally that, together with sedentarism, requires solutions that increase the enthusiasm towards physical activity. Therefore, this paper describes two solutions based on active games using the Kinect sensor and biometric sensors, designed for the outpatient treatment of childhood obesity. The solutions were applied in an intervention program based on active video games and motor games, developed with children in treatment for childhood obesity. An ad hoc questionnaire was used to assess the level of satisfaction, fun, learning, and behavior changes in the children of the experimental group that developed the intervention. The results showed a high index of satisfaction with the intervention program, as well as with the games developed. It is concluded that active video games and group games are highly motivating and can promote behavior change towards healthier life habits in children

Games against health: a player-centered design philosophy

This paper announces the “Games Against Health” (GAH) research agenda, a criticism of, and response to, the cultural imperialism of the “Games for Health” paradigm. Committed to player-centric design ethics, GAH seeks to dismantle the “games for health” myth as neo-liberal elitist diktat. We acknowledge the values, tastes and pleasures of billions of game players worldwide. We argue that game designers should engage more efficiently in the disimprovement of player health and wellbeing in order to cater to those players’ existing preferences. We hope the paper can serve as a convenient reference for those designing psychotic, sociopathic or antisocial games

A new track for technology: Can ICT take care for healthier lifestyles?

The paper takes a look on potential contribution of Information and Communication Technologies to abate public health challenges caused by demographics and lifestyle. From the current convergence of mhealth, and sport market products emerge targeting normal athletes to control their training in a quantified manner. The resulting feedback and transparency foster a healthier lifestyle. These products and services help overcome limitations to innovation typical to the health care market. The paper is based on research by the European Commission's Institute for Prospective Technological Studies on Integrated Personal Health/Care services. --eHealth,Integrated Personal Health/Care services,sport,training,lifestyle related disease,innovation

Development, validation, and reliability of the Kinect-Ed survey tools

To assess the future success of the Kinect-Ed nutrition and cooking intervention, the purpose of the current study was to develop the Kinect-Ed pre-test, post-test, and parental surveys, establish content and face validity, as well as test-retest reliability and internal consistency. Content validity was examined using an expert panel (n=7) and face validity using cognitive interviews (n=8). Test-retest reliability of the Kinect-Ed pre-test (n=129) and post-test (n=107) was completed with young adolescents (9-14 years), while the parent survey was followed up a telephone interview (n=20 parents). Test-retest correlations ranged from .499-1.000 with the majority of t-tests revealing non-significant differences while the chi square analyses revealed significant associations (Phi= .377-1.000). Results indicate that the Kinect-Ed surveys have content and face validity and are reliable and, therefore, can be used in the upcoming years to examine the effectiveness of the program for improving family meals, food preparation, and overall diet quality in young adolescents

Feasibility and acceptability of an exergame intervention for schizophrenia

Objectives To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of an exergame intervention as a tool to promote physical activity in outpatients with schizophrenia. Design Feasibility/Acceptability Study and Quasi-Experimental Trial. Method Sixteen outpatients with schizophrenia received treatment as usual and they all completed an 8-week exergame intervention using Microsoft Kinect® (20 min sessions, biweekly). Participants completed pre and post treatment assessments regarding functional mobility (Timed Up and Go Test), functional fitness performance (Senior Fitness Test), motor neurological soft signs (Brief Motor Scale), hand grip strength (digital dynamometer), static balance (force plate), speed of processing (Trail Making Test), schizophrenia-related symptoms (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale) and functioning (Personal and Social Performance Scale). The EG group completed an acceptability questionnaire after the intervention. Results Attrition rate was 18.75% and 69.23% of the participants completed the intervention within the proposed schedule. Baseline clinical traits were not related to game performance indicators. Over 90% of the participants rated the intervention as satisfactory and interactive. Most participants (76.9%) agreed that this intervention promotes healthier lifestyles and is an acceptable alternative to perform physical activity. Repeated-measures MANOVA analyses found no significant multivariate effects for combined outcomes. Conclusion This study established the feasibility and acceptability of an exergame intervention for outpatients with schizophrenia. The intervention proved to be an appealing alternative to physical activity. Future trials should include larger sample sizes, explore patients' adherence to home-based exergames and consider greater intervention dosage (length, session duration, and/or frequency) in order to achieve potential effects

Interactive Virtual Reality Fitness Game using Microsoft Kinect (KineFit)

KineFit is an interactive Virtual Reality (VR) fitness training application that utilized the Kinect sensor as its main input device. Kinect offers a controller-free gaming experience where user interacts with the game environment by using their whole body, hence, making the experience more natural and immersive. The game is incorporated with a gesture-based interface that removes any use of mouse and keyboard as a means to navigate the game environment. Moreover, this project is undertaken to motivate exercise as well as to inculcate healthy living culture among Malaysians since obesity has becoming a critical issue in the country lately. In addition, the Jack of exercise is one of the primary reasons that lead to obesity, which in turn is caused by the lack of time, motivation and dull exercise routine. Furthermore, most video games are desktop-based environment that limits the users' movement, thus, promoting sedentary lifestyle. Hence, KineFit is undertaken to change the current attitude and moves towards active lifestyle. Currently, KineFit consists of two exercise modules but flexible for expansion and uses only the Kinect sensor as the input device. This project implemented the incremental model which offers flexibility in time, requirements, manpower and risks. A total of 14 users participated in 2 different prototype testing to test the usability of the system and the users' perception of the game on their motivation, engagement and enjoyment to perform the exercise. The result of the first prototype testing is encouraging as users felt motivated to complete the exercise while having fun at the same time. The users suggested that the modules should be refmed for better user engagement. The second prototype testing improved in terms of engagement as the exercise modules are changed based on data gathered on the first prototype testing. Suggested future works for expansion are by adding a jogging module and implementing an Artificial Intelligence (AI) on character that is able to interact with the user to give the game more depth, motivation, engagement and importantly, enjoyment of performing exercise at the comfort of users' living room

Improving personalized elderly care: an approach using cognitive agents to better assist elderly people

Tesis por compendio de publicaciones[ES]El envejecimiento de la población a nivel global es una constante cada vez más presente en el día a día y las consecuencias derivadas de este problema son cada vez más impactantes para el correcto funcionamiento y estructuración de la sociedad. En este contexto, hablamos de consecuencias a nivel de crecimiento económico, estilos de vida (y jubilación), relaciones familiares, recursos disponibles por el gobierno a la franja etaria más anciana e inevitablemente la prevalencia de enfermedades crónicas. Es ante esta realidad que surge la necesidad de desarrollo y promoción de estrategias eficaces en el acompañamiento, prevención y estímulo al envejecimiento activo y saludable de la población para garantizar que las personas ancianas continúen teniendo un papel relevante en la sociedad en lugar de someterse al aislamiento y fácil deterioro de las capacidades físicas, cognitivas, emocionales y sociales. De esta forma, tiene todo el sentido aprovechar todos los desarrollos tecnológicos verificados en los últimos años, principalmente en lo que se refiere a avances en las áreas de dispositivos móviles, inteligencia artificial y sistemas de monitoreo y crear soluciones capaces de brindar apoyo diariamente al recopilar datos e indicadores del estado de salud y, en respuesta, proporcionar diversas acciones personalizadas que motiven la adopción de mejores hábitos de salud y medios para lograr este envejecimiento activo y saludable. El desafío consiste en motivar a esta población a conciliar su día a día con el interés y la voluntad de utilizar aplicaciones y sistemas que brinden este apoyo personalizado. Algunas de las abordajes recientemente explorados en la literatura con este objetivo y que han alcanzado resultados prometedores se basan en la utilización de técnicas de gamificación e incentivo al cumplimiento de desafíos a nivel de salud (como si la persona estuviera jugando un juego) y la utilización de interacciones personalizadas con objetos (ya sean físicos como robots o virtuales como avatares) capaces de brindar feedback más personal, creando así una conexión más cercana entre ambas entidades. El trabajo aquí presentado combina estas ideas y resulta en un enfoque inteligente para la promoción del bienestar de la población anciana a través de un sistema de cuidados de salud personalizado. Este sistema incorpora diversas técnicas de gamificación para la promoción de mejores hábitos y comportamientos, y la utilización de un asistente virtual cognitivo capaz de entender las necesidades e intereses del usuario para posibilitar un feedback e interacción personalizados con el fin de ayudar y motivar al cumplimiento de los diferentes desafíos y objetivos que se identifiquen. El enfoque propuesto fue validado a través de un estudio con 12 usuarios ancianos y se lograron resultados significativos en términos de usabilidad, aceptación y efectos de salud. Específicamente, los resultados obtenidos permiten respaldar la importancia y el efecto positivo de combinar técnicas de gamificación e interacción con un asistente virtual cognitivo que traduzca el progreso del estado de salud del usuario, ya que se lograron mejoras significativas en los resultados de salud después de la intervención. Además, los resultados de usabilidad obtenidos mediante la cumplimentación de un cuestionario de usabilidad confirmaron la buena adhesión a el enfoque presentado. Estos resultados validan la hipótesis de la investigación estudiada en el desarrollo de esta disertación

A review of physical activity monitoring and activity trackers for older adults

The objective assessment of physical activity levels through wearable inertial-based motion detectors for an automatic, continuous and long-term monitoring of people in free-living environments is a well-known research area in literature. However, their application to older adults can present particular constraints. This paper reviews the methods of measuring physical activity, adoption of wearable devices in older adults, describes and compares existing commercial products encompassing activity trackers tailored for older participants

Energy expenditure of “Kinect™” exergaming in schoolchildren

With declining levels of physical activity and increasing body mass indexes recent research has proposed that active video gaming could be a potential tool in the fight against childhood obesity. This study was designed to evaluate the energy and physiological costs of the latest technology of active gaming, Kinect™ for the Xbox360®, in healthy schoolchildren. The hypothesis was that energy expenditure would be significantly greater when children engaged in activity promoting video games using Kinect™ compared to both traditional sedentary video gaming and rest. Energy expenditure, heart rate and oxygen consumption were measured in 18 healthy schoolchildren (10 boys and 8 girls) aged 11 to 15 years during rest, whilst playing a traditional non-active video game and also whilst playing two activity promoting Kinect™ video games. Participants played each game for 15 minutes in a fixed order and measurements were made by indirect calorimetry using the Cosmed K4 b² metabolic cart. Repeated measurement mixed-model analysis was conducted to compare the physiological costs and energy expenditures across conditions with multiple post hoc comparisons. Mean heart rates, oxygen and energy costs all increased significantly (p < .05) during activity promoting video game play compared to rest and sedentary gaming. Mean heart rate increased by 53% above rest (77.4 ± 14.6 bpm) during a dance simulation game (118.3 ± 17.8 bpm) and by 70% during a boxing game (131.3 ± 15.3 bpm). Mean energy expenditures of 3.00 ± 1.03 kcal•min–1 and 4.35 ± 1.55 kcal•min–1 were demonstrated during “Dance Central” and “Kinect Sports Boxing”, 150% and 263% greater than resting values (1.20 ± 0.25 kcal•min–1) and 103% and 194% higher than during sedentary gaming (1.48 ± 0.33 kcal•min–1). Activity levels of 2.91 and 4.02 child-specific METs were achieved when playing the Kinect™ dance and boxing game. Active gaming using Kinect™ on the Xbox360® significantly increased energy expenditure compared to rest and almost tripled when compared to traditional sedentary gaming. In our sample, Kinect™ active gaming expended up to the equivalent of 261 kcal•h–1, 172 kcal•h–1greater than sedentary gaming. Such expenditure could potentially help bridge the ‘energy gap’ that is thought to be responsible for the increasing incidence of obesity seen in children and adolescents

Health Promotion for Childhood Obesity: An Approach Based on Self-Tracking of Data

[EN]At present, obesity and overweight are a global health epidemic. Traditional interventions for promoting healthy habits do not appear to be e ective. However, emerging technological solutions based on wearables and mobile devices can be useful in promoting healthy habits. These applications generate a considerable amount of tracked activity data. Consequently, our approach is based on the quantified-self model for recommending healthy activities. Gamification can also be used as a mechanism to enhance personalization, increasing user motivation. This paper describes the quantified-self model and its data sources, the activity recommender system, and the PROVITAO App user experience model. Furthermore, it presents the results of a gamified program applied for three years in children with obesity and the process of evaluating the quantified-self model with experts. Positive outcomes were obtained in children’s medical parameters and health habits