%0 Journal Article
%@ 2561-326X
%I JMIR Publications
%V 3
%N 1
%P e10284
%T Digital Gaming for Nutritional Education: A Survey on Preferences, Motives, and Needs of Children and Adolescents
%A Holzmann,Sophie Laura
%A Dischl,Felicitas
%A Schäfer,Hanna
%A Groh,Georg
%A Hauner,Hans
%A Holzapfel,Christina
%+ Institute for Nutritional Medicine, Else Kroener-Fresenius-Center for Nutritional Medicine, University Hospital “Klinikum rechts der Isar”, Technical University of Munich, Georg-Brauchle-Ring 62, 5th Floor, Munich, 80992, Germany, 49 89 289 249 23, christina.holzapfel@tum.de
%K adolescents
%K children
%K communication
%K motives
%K mobile phone
%K needs
%K nutrition
%K obesity
%K overweight
%K preferences
%K serious games
%K survey
%D 2019
%7 13.02.2019
%9 Original Paper
%J JMIR Form Res
%G English
%X 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. 
%M 30758290
%R 10.2196/10284
%U http://formative.jmir.org/2019/1/e10284/
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/10284
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30758290