Physical activity (PA) is key to both preventing childhood obesity and reducing an individual's risk for certain types of cancer. While conventional PA interventions (e.g., exercise, health clubs) face problems of sustained motivation and adherence to fitness or training programs, active video games (AVGs) offer an innovative alternative for PA promotion due to their promising motivational properties. Although studies suggest that AVGs allow players to achieve the recommended levels of PA, children's motivation to play AVGs often decreases quickly. To reduce this decline, our study introduces an innovative motivating factor: a narrative. A narrative or storyline effectively draws on the human need for narrative closure (i.e., the need to find out how the story will end). A well-constructed narrative has a significant impact on cognition, affect, and health behavior. However, narrative elements are seldom incorporated into AVGs. An AVG with a storyline should encourage children to engage in more PA through increased motivation and extended play. Consequently, AVGs with compelling narratives should increase players'activity energy expenditure (AEE), PA level, and heart rate. Moreover, AVGs with narratives are likely to be more interactive, immersive, and engaging, and thereby elicit cognitive, affective, and behavioral experiences that differ both quantitatively and qualitatively from those elicited by nonnarrative AVGs. The proposed study explores both the novel addition of a compelling narrative to AVGs and its psychological and behavioral consequences on PA. It proposes to create corresponding narrative and nonnarrative cutscenes of comparable duration interspersed in an existing AVG;40 children aged 8 to 11 will play narrative or nonnarrative versions of the games by watching corresponding cutscenes (i.e., brief, animated clips played in video games) and playing the game. Their cognitive and affective evaluation, motivation to play the games, duration of play, activity energy expenditure (AEE), PA level, and heart rate will be measured for the narrative and nonnarrative versions of the AVG. This study is a first step in a series of rigorous systematic inquiries into the behavioral potentials of narratives via AVGs for combating childhood obesity. The exploration of a narrative's motivating capacity in AVGs will inspire novel AVG designs and introduce a new dimension of PA facilitation among children with immersive and involving games, which may then be translated into school- or family-based health media interventions. Such inquiries would help to create innovative and effective media products to be applied to various health interventions.

Public Health Relevance

Project Narrative/Statement of Public Health Significance This study has the potential for a significant public health impact due to the pervasiveness of video game consoles, which are present in nearly 90% of the homes and 50% of the bedrooms of US children. Narratives possess unique motivational properties that may not only make AVGs more interactive, immersive, and engaging but also elicit greater cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses than nonnarrative AVGs. Successful completion of this study will provide the empirical basis for novel design inspirations for AVGs that, when combined with involving narratives, can be directly translated into school- or community-based media interventions as a practical, cost-effective, and broadly available method for reducing childhood obesity.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Exploratory/Developmental Grants (R21)
Project #
1R21CA158917-01A1
Application #
8243146
Study Section
Behavioral Medicine, Interventions and Outcomes Study Section (BMIO)
Program Officer
Perna, Frank
Project Start
2012-07-11
Project End
2013-04-04
Budget Start
2012-07-11
Budget End
2013-04-04
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2012
Total Cost
$249,005
Indirect Cost
$87,837
Name
Northwestern University at Chicago
Department
Miscellaneous
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
160079455
City
Evanston
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60201
Lyons, Elizabeth J; Baranowski, Tom; Basen-Engquist, Karen M et al. (2016) Testing the effects of narrative and play on physical activity among breast cancer survivors using mobile apps: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. BMC Cancer 16:202
Fernandes Davies, Vanessa; Mafra, Rafaella; Beltran, Alicia et al. (2016) Children's Cognitive and Affective Responses About a Narrative Versus a Non-Narrative Cartoon Designed for an Active Videogame. Games Health J 5:114-9
Lu, Amy Shirong; Baranowski, Tom; Hong, S Lee et al. (2016) The Narrative Impact of Active Video Games on Physical Activity Among Children: A Feasibility Study. J Med Internet Res 18:e272
Baranowski, Tom; Blumberg, Fran; Buday, Richard et al. (2016) Games for Health for Children-Current Status and Needed Research. Games Health J 5:1-12
Baranowski, Tom (2015) Are active video games useful to combat obesity? Am J Clin Nutr 101:1107-8
Straker, Leon M; Fenner, Ashley A; Howie, Erin K et al. (2015) Efficient and Effective Change Principles in Active Videogames. Games Health J 4:43-52
Lu, Amy Shirong (2015) Narrative in Exergames: Thoughts on Procedure, Mechanism, and Others. Games Health J 4:19-24
van 't Riet, Jonathan; Crutzen, Rik; Lu, Amy Shirong (2014) How Effective Are Active Videogames Among the Young and the Old? Adding Meta-analyses to Two Recent Systematic Reviews. Games Health J 3:311-8
Baranowski, Moderator Tom; Lu, Amy Shirong; Buday, Richard et al. (2013) Stories in Games for Health: More Pros or Cons? Games Health J 2:256-63
Baranowski, Tom; Buday, Richard; Thompson, Debbe et al. (2013) Developing Games for Health Behavior Change: Getting Started. Games Health J 2:183-190

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