@Article{info:doi/10.2196/10284,
author="Holzmann, Sophie Laura
and Dischl, Felicitas
and Sch{\"a}fer, Hanna
and Groh, Georg
and Hauner, Hans
and Holzapfel, Christina",
title="Digital Gaming for Nutritional Education: A Survey on Preferences, Motives, and Needs of Children and Adolescents",
journal="JMIR Form Res",
year="2019",
month="Feb",
day="13",
volume="3",
number="1",
pages="e10284",
keywords="adolescents; children; communication; motives; mobile phone; needs; nutrition; obesity; overweight; preferences; serious games; survey",
abstract="Background: Use of novel information and communication technologies are frequently discussed as promising tools to prevent and treat overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. Objective: This survey aims to describe the preferences, motives, and needs of children and adolescents regarding nutrition and digital games. Methods: We conducted a survey in 6 secondary schools in the southern region of Germany using a 43-item questionnaire. Questions referred to preferences, motives, and needs of children and adolescents regarding nutrition and digital games. In addition, knowledge regarding nutrition was assessed with 4 questions. We collected self-reported sociodemographic and anthropometric data. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed using SPSS. Results: In total, 293 children and adolescents participated in the study, with ages 12-18 years (137 girls, 46.8{\%}), weight 30.0-120.0 (mean 60.2 [SD 13.2]) kg, and height 1.4-2.0 (mean 1.7 [SD 0.1]) m. A total of 5.5{\%} (16/290) correctly answered the 4 questions regarding nutrition knowledge. Study participants acquired digital nutritional information primarily from the internet (166/291, 57.0{\%}) and television (97/291, 33.3{\%}), while school education (161/291, 55.3{\%}) and parents or other adults (209/291, 71.8{\%}) were the most relevant nondigital information sources. Most participants (242/283, 85.5{\%}) reported that they regularly play digital games. More than half (144/236, 61.0{\%}) stated that they play digital games on a daily basis on their smartphones or tablets, and almost 70{\%} (151/282, 66.5{\%}) reported playing digital games for ≤30 minutes without any interruption. One-half of respondents (144/280, 51.4{\%}) also stated that they were interested in receiving information about nutrition while playing digital games. Conclusions: This survey suggests that nutrition knowledge in children and adolescents might be deficient. Most children and adolescents play digital games and express interest in acquiring nutritional information during digital gameplay. A digital game with a focus on sound nutrition could be a potential educational tool for imparting nutrition knowledge and promoting healthier nutrition behaviors in children and adolescents. ",
issn="2561-326X",
doi="10.2196/10284",
url="http://formative.jmir.org/2019/1/e10284/",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/10284",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30758290"
}