Contribution of Exergaming Behaviour to Physical Activity: Toward Better Understanding the Role of Motivation

Physical activity (PA) is associated with numerous health benefits. Because PA patterns established early in life track into adulthood, it is important that children develop and sustain healthy PA habits. Current guidelines recommend that youth accumulate ≥ 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity PA daily, but many youth do not attain this level. Evaluation of public health interventions that aim to promote PA provide little evidence of sustained positive effects over time. This could relate, at least in part, to interventions lacking a strong conceptual foundation and, in particular, to a lack of underpinnings that recognize the central role of motivation in PA. It is important that effective strategies to increase and sustain healthy PA levels in youth are identified. The Self-Determination Theory is used to explain why people adopt and maintain healthy PA behaviors and posits that sustained PA relates to natural or intrinsic tendencies or motivations to behave in healthy and effective ways. Positive PA experiences in school, at home and in community settings may foster an internal desire or motivation to sustain PA participation simply for its challenges or for enjoyment. Lack of sustained PA among youth could reflect a scarcity of enjoyable PA options that fit with the sophisticated technetronic expectations of youth today. PA interventions must “keep up with the times,” by acknowledging young peoples’ prevailing interests and by incorporating advancements in technology that heighten interest and motivation for PA. Exergaming, a type of non-sedentary videogame that requires players to be physically active in order to attain a series of incrementally challenging goals, is increasingly viewed as an enjoyable PA option among today’s technology-immersed youth. However, although critical to informing the design, implementation and sustainability of exergaming interventions, evidence on exergaming-related motivation, preferences, intentions and sustainability is lacking. Research in this domain is needed to ascertain whether exergaming interventions can help youth become and remain physically active, and which facets of exergaming hold the most promise in sustaining positive PA change. More specifically, using “gamified augmented reality” such as exergaming could help youth attain recommended PA levels and promote sustainable healthy behaviour, while at the same time contributing to enjoyment of PA. The three studies described in this thesis examine motivation and exergaming in-depth using SDT and its tenants as a theoretical guide and a common theme across studies. Thus, the role of motivation and intentions in exergaming behaviour and how they contribute to PA in the general population of youth is a key contribution of this dissertation. Study 1, a review of reviews on exergaming, provides background for the next two studies, each of which was conducted in population-based (as opposed to clinical or experimental) settings. Twenty-five reviews spanning 2009 to 2016 were retained, each of which incorporated between 5 and 100 articles. A positive relationship between exergaming and energy expenditure (EE) was well-documented, but whether exergaming increases PA or changes body composition was not established. There is however, evidence that exergaming (i.e., as a non-sedentary use of screens) is a healthy alternative to sedentary behaviour, that it improves cognitive function, that it is an interesting and enjoyable pastime in youth, that it shows promise as a PA option by adding variety and alternative PA forms in health and dietary interventions and finally that it is likely more health-promoting than traditional videogames because of higher EE and possibly improved physical fitness, body composition and cognitive health. However, more research and specifically, longitudinal studies are needed to assess whether exergaming can be sustained to obtain these benefits over time. Study 2 identified correlates of sustained exergaming. We reported that almost 50% of grade 9 students sustained exergaming for 2-3 years. Study results suggest that in non-clinical settings, exergaming may be a practical approach to help adolescents maintain PA during adolescence. Study 3 examined the psychometric properties of a new scale to assess reasons for exergaming (i.e., the Reasons to Exergame (RTEX) scale). This study also examined whether and how the scale relates to the timing, intensity and duration of past-month exergaming. RTEX items were developed in consultation with PA and exergaming experts and using key exergaming constructs, including PA, general interest in videogames and enjoyment of exergaming. RTEX was found to be a reliable and valid assessment of reasons to exergame. However, further studies should replicate these initial findings in larger, more diverse samples

Videogames: Dispelling myths and tabloid headlines that videogames are bad

Videogamers are often portrayed as adolescent overweight males eating fast food in their bedroom, and videogames often blamed in the media for violent crime, obesity, social isolation and depression. However videogaming is a mainstream activity. In Australia 65% of the population play videogames (Digital Australia 2014), and humanity as a species play about 3 billion hours of videogames a week. This paper dispels the myths and sensationalised negative tabloid headlines that videogames are bad by presenting the latest research showing that videogames can help fight depression, improve brain function and stimulate creativity; that gamers have higher levels of family closeness and better attachment to school; and that videogames help boys and young men to relax, cope and socialise. Children and adolescents deliberately choose to play videogames in the knowledge that they will feel better as a result, and videogame play allow players to express themselves in ways they may not feel comfortable doing in real life because of their appearance, gender, sexuality, and/or age. The potential benefits of videogames to the individual and to society are yet to be fully realised. However already videogames are helping many gamers to flourish in life

PRESCHOOL CHILD’S MOTHER’S PARENTING PRACTICES AND ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT WITH CHILD’S DIGITALLY-BASED ACTIVITY IN RELATION TO CHILD’S PROSOCIAL OR PROBLEMATIC BEHAVIOR

The aim of this research was to examine preschool children’s prosocial behavior as well as internalizing and externalizing problems in relation to their mothers’ parenting practices and active involvement with their child in the use of various digital technologies (television, computer, telephone, play stations), time spent and content of the child’s activities. Participating in the research were the mothers of 120 preschool children, aged 5 – 6 years old, 50 girls and 70 boys.  Mothers completed the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach Rescorla, 2000), prosocial behavior scale of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997), Block‘s Child Rearing Practices Report (Block, 1981), as adapted by Aunolo and Nurmi (Aunola Nurmi, 2004) and also answered questions regarding the child’s time spent with digital technologies, the content of their activity (drawing, puzzles, games, etc.), and the mother’s degree of active involvement with her child during these activities.  Results showed that mother’s active involvement with child’s digitally-based activity was associated with emotionally warm parenting, as well as with higher child’s prosocial behavior ratings. Regression analysis showed that lover mother’s involvement and punishment orientation in parenting was predictive of externalizing behavior ratings for boys. Results are discussed in relation to practical implications for parent-child relationships

USE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES IN CHILDREN'S SPEECH AND LANGUAGE CORRECTION WORK IN PRESCHOOL

In today's society, a child lives in a technology environment since birth, and it changes children's perception and learning habits, determining the necessity to use digital technologies that are interesting for preschool children, motivates them to perform speech and language corrective actions consciously, and enables the development of self-control of speech.The objective of the paper is to stimulate discussion on the possibilities of using digital technologies in the correction of children's speech and language in preschool, based on the analysis of theoretical literature and the availability of means used in speech therapy correction.Methods - literature analysis, survey of practicing speech therapists.The results suggest that choice of means is determined by speech therapists' personal attitude toward digital technologies, which is influenced by respondents' experience and availability of technologies within the educational institution.

El papel de la actividad física, el sedentarismo y la condición física en la salud mental y la sustancia blanca en niños y adolescentes

Childhood and adolescence are periods of dynamic behavioral, cognitive and emotional development that can increase vulnerability to mental disorders. Obesity and related issues represent important public health concerns in terms of prevalence, incidence and economic burden. In addition, nearly 75% of young people have insufficient levels of physical activity in developed countries. In tandem with this fact, most of the young people are “digital natives”, which means that they have grown up surrounded by digital information and entertainment on screens. All these facts together prove that a major change in the lifestyle of young people is taking place in the last decades, which in turn might have an effect on their mental and brain health. In this context, white matter, which is important for efficient transmission of information between brain areas, has been considered one of the brain features susceptible of being modified by physical activity and other related factors (i.e., sedentary behavior and physical fitness) in young people, yet the body of evidence is still in its infancy, and further studies are needed to shed light on the many questions that remain unanswered. Therefore, the overall aim of the present International Doctoral Thesis is to study the role of physical activity, sedentary behavior and physical fitness in the mental health (part I), and white matter (part II) in young people.Tesis Univ. Granada

High School Location and Video Games Use

Ponencia presentada en el XVI Congreso Internacional Gallego-Português de Psicopedagogía, realizado en la Universidade do Minho, en Braga (Portugal), los dias 1 a 3 de septiembre de 2021, con el patrocinio de la Associación Científica Internacional de Psicopedagogía (ACIP)[Resumen] El presente estudio pretende conocer si la ubicación del centro educativo al que acuden los adolescentes determina el uso de videojuegos de esta población. Este trabajo se integra dentro de una investigación de carácter cuantitativo de tipo descriptivo, que cuenta con una muestra total de 708 adolescentes cursando o bien educación secundaria o bachillerato en el momento de la recolección de datos, con edades comprendidas entre los 12 y los 18 años (M: 13.81; DT: 1.25). Se utilizó un cuestionario con ítems de variables personales, académicas y uso de videojuegos. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que aquellos jóvenes que acuden a un centro urbano refieren que los videojuegos son la principal ocupación de su tiempo libre en mayor medida que los que acuden a centros rurales. El primer colectivo refiere tanto más años dedicados como más horas invertidas a este tipo de divertimento, especialmente durante la semana lectiva. En lo referente a la plataforma preferida de juego, emergen preferencias similares, ocupando el primer lugar el móvil o Tablet y la consola conectada a televisión. Finalmente, los jóvenes rurales prefieren hacer uso del videojuego Among Us, mientras que los urbanos, Fortnite, mostrando ambos grupos gran preferencia por juegos online multijugador. A modo de conclusión, es interesante contrastar datos sobre uso de videojuegos en población rural y urbana para conocer cómo se interrelacionan dos realidades actuales: por un lado, la expansión paulatina del mundo de videojuego, y, por el otro, la realidad de la brecha digital entre los ámbitos urbano y rural.[Abstract] The aim of the present study is to know whether or not the location of the high school determines in any form the way teenagers use this kind of entertainment. This paper is integrated within a larger quantitative descriptive research, with a sample of 708 teenagers who were studying secondary education or higher in high schools, with ages between 12 and 18 years old (M: 13.81; TD: 1.25) A questionnaire of items about personal, academic, and video game use variables was used.The results show that playing video games is the first leisure choice for urban schoolers more often than for rural schoolers. The first group also reports more years in their history of playing with these games, and more hours dedicated to them, especially during the week from Monday to Friday. About the preferred platform, both urban and rural group show similar preferences, such as mobile phones or tablets and consoles with TV connection. Finally, rural adolescents preferplaying the video game Among Us, while urban ones prefer a more violent title like Fortnite, showing both groups preference for multiplayer online games.Studying this kind of social themes could be quite interesting because it confronts two current social realities: in one hand, the relentless video game industry expansion, and on the other, the digital breach between rural and urban spaces

An Evaluation of African American Fathers’ Perceptions and Influences on Child Food Choices and Physical Activity Behaviors

Child obesity is affecting children’s health nationwide. Rates are highest among African Americans (AA) in the South. Research has explored parents’ influence on child eating and activity, but most has reported on mothers’ influences. The purpose of this research was to investigate perceptions about AA fathers’ influences on their children’s eating and physical activity. Using a structured focus group questionnaire based on the parent layer constructs of Birch and Ventura’s Ecological Model for Child Overweight (2009), four focus groups were conducted with 28 AA fathers with children 6- to 11-years-old in a rural and an urban church setting in southeast Louisiana. Data was coded using deductive content analysis and a matrix based on model constructs. Most fathers were knowledgeable about healthy eating, but indicated that fathers’ typical focus in feeding their children was simply making sure they were not hungry. Cultural food preferences influenced rural fathers’ diets more than urban, but both groups agreed that their children’s diets were more influenced by the fast food environment. Fathers were involved with food shopping, with food preferences, health, and cost affecting their food purchases. Most affirmed providing support for their children’s physical activity and monitoring their children’s screen time as important. Participants believed that AA fathers intensely influence their children, especially boys, in many aspects of their lives, including eating and physical activity. Fathers stated that study participation made them more aware of their responsibility and potential influences on their children’s eating and physical activity habits, and of the importance of role modeling and educating their children about healthy lifestyles, so that their children did not experience the burden of chronic disease typical for their own generation. Findings suggest the relevance of the parent constructs of the Child Overweight Ecological Model to the population of interest, and support a body of literature indicating that fathers should be an intervention focus. Future research should explore AA fathers’ knowledge and practices related to child feeding, the specific ways in which they provide support for children’s activity and monitor sedentary behavior, and ways to support fathers’ role modeling of healthy eating and physical activity

Attention and Social Cognition in Virtual Reality:The effect of engagement mode and character eye-gaze

Technical developments in virtual humans are manifest in modern character design. Specifically, eye gaze offers a significant aspect of such design. There is need to consider the contribution of participant control of engagement. In the current study, we manipulated participants’ engagement with an interactive virtual reality narrative called Coffee without Words. Participants sat over coffee opposite a character in a virtual café, where they waited for their bus to be repaired. We manipulated character eye-contact with the participant. For half the participants in each condition, the character made no eye-contact for the duration of the story. For the other half, the character responded to participant eye-gaze by making and holding eye contact in return. To explore how participant engagement interacted with this manipulation, half the participants in each condition were instructed to appraise their experience as an artefact (i.e., drawing attention to technical features), while the other half were introduced to the fictional character, the narrative, and the setting as though they were real. This study allowed us to explore the contributions of character features (interactivity through eye-gaze) and cognition (attention/engagement) to the participants’ perception of realism, feelings of presence, time duration, and the extent to which they engaged with the character and represented their mental states (Theory of Mind). Importantly it does so using a highly controlled yet ecologically valid virtual experience

Socio-ecological influences on physical activity in primary school children: a view from South Africa

Includes bibliographical referencesThe prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity has increased substantially globally with a concurrent decline in both children's physical activity and fitness levels. The socio-ecological model proposes that health behaviour, such as physical activity, is influenced by multiple factors, at an individual, social and environmental level. However, there seems to be a lack of consensus in the current literature on the factors influencing physical activity in different settings (e.g. school, neighbourhood), and across a wide range of socio-economic conditions. To our knowledge, there are no data available on the role of different environmental factors (within the school and the neighbourhood environment) in relation to children's physical activity in a South African setting. Therefore, one of the key aims of this thesis was to assess the effectiveness of a novel intervention on fitness, measures of physical activity and factors that influence physical activity. Specifically, this thesis assessed the effectiveness of a school-based, curriculum-grounded, educator-focused intervention designed to increase physical activity and healthy eating in South African primary school students in low income settings, on fitness levels and physical activity related knowledge, attitudes and behaviour (Chapter 2). Additionally, this thesis examined factors within the school environment associated with observed physical activity in children during in-school break time, self-report activity, and moderate- to -vigorous, in-school objectively-measured activity (Chapter 3-5). Furthermore, this thesis assessed the influences of parental perceptions and the neighbourhood environment on children's physical activity (Chapter 6). The overarching aim of this thesis is to examine the association between environmental constructs (physical spatial and built environment, social environment, and policy environment) and children's physical activity

Assessing the nature and extent of children's screen time

Background and aims New Zealand children are currently ranked the third most overweight and obese in the developed world. Further, differences by ethnic and socioeconomic factors are evident, with Māori and Pacific children, and the most deprived, being disproportionately impacted. Although much research has examined the association between watching television and childhood overweight/obesity, less is known about the effects of new media such as smart phones, tablets and iPods. Such research has primarily used self and proxy report, and researcher-observation to estimate children’s screen time. Wearable cameras have the potential to overcome some of the limitations of previous methods. This thesis aimed to determine the nature and extent of children’s screen time during the after school period on a typical weekday. Methods In 2014 and 2015, 169 children from Wellington schools wore cameras on a lanyard around their necks that took pictures every seven seconds for four days, as part of the Kids’Cam study. For this thesis (the Kids’Cam Screen Time study) Kids’Cam data available for the Thursday after school period was analysed. A study-specific annotation protocol and schedule was developed to guide the annotation of 120,780 images from 105 children (45 boys, 59 girls; 45 New Zealand European, 36 Māori and 24 Pacific) using bespoke annotation software, a process that took approximately 150 hours. Each image was reviewed for instances of a screen, and annotated for the setting, the type of screen and the activity being undertaken on the screen. Data were analysed using Stata to determine mean times and rates of screen time, and differences by gender, ethnicity and deprivation. Results Children had a mean screen time of 44 minutes, 52 seconds during the after school period. Rate for overall screen time was significantly greater in boys than girls. Overall screen time was greater in non-overweight children than overweight/obese. Non-overweight children spent considerably more time using computers than overweight/obese children. As deprivation level increased there was a slight decrease in television use, with the exception of the least deprived children, who had the lowest rate of television use. Of the activity categories included in the study, the highest mean screen time was watching programmes, followed by games and social activities. Non-overweight children spent significantly more time playing games, while overweight/obese children spent more time using screens for social activities. The rate of screen time was greater in boys than girls for all activities except for watching programmes. Rate of programmes and background television increased somewhat with increasing deprivation. Conclusion Wearable cameras are an effective research tool to investigate children’s screen time and the types of screens they use, due in part to their objective nature. Study findings suggest that the association between screen time and overweight/obesity in childhood is becoming more complex and that the association is perhaps limited to television. A small negative relationship suggests that new media may potentially be protective against overweight and obesity. The association observed between television use and overweight/obesity was substantially smaller than reported previously. This may be due to the changing nature of television watching. Multiple screen use may be a contributing factor to this observation, as children’s hands may be occupied by an additional screen, reducing the opportunity for snacking. This finding may also be due to an association between new media, and low deprivation. Kids’Cam Screen Time was limited to analysing the Thursday after school period only. The study was also limited by compliance of candidates, and the scope of what could be seen in the photos. To gain a better insight on the true association between children’s screen use and overweight and obesity, further research should determine screen use on other days of the week, especially the weekend, and over different time periods. To ensure children are protected from harm from the use of screen, it is important they and their parents are aware of and practise healthy screen behaviours, and that governments ensure they are adequately informed of such behaviours. However, the findings of this study would suggest that interventions to address childhood obesity might be better concentrated on creating healthy food environments to support healthy food behaviours, than those addressing physical activity levels associated with screen time. Given the rising use of screens by children globally, the findings of this study are likely of interest in other countries