The main objective of this Phase II SBIR project is to develop an interactive video game, entitled """"""""The Blob."""""""" The game is designed to incorporate basic nutritional principles into a game environment.It covers prevention of coronary artery disease through education regarding modifiable risk factors for the disease. The game will specifically address the health issue of high blood cholesterol levels. The target audience for the game is adolescents, and the test population will be seventh and eighth grade students (ages 11 to 15). Adolescents with and without abnormal cholesterol levels or other risk factors will be eligible. Adolescents are the target population because behavior patterns leading to high adult risk are often established early in life. This study will employ a pretest-posttest, experimental-control group evaluation of the software, which will assess transmission of knowledge about nutrition and cholesterol. Approximately 200 students are expected to be in this part of the research. A series of focus groups with adolescents and health professionals will be conducted during the formative and summative phases of the project.
