Games and Learning

Experts have hoped that gaming might succeed where television and other media have failed – namely, actually inspiring and creating incentives for kids to adopt healthier lifestyles.

Researchers examined a wide array of studies that gauged the effects of electronic games on a variety of healthy behavior, hoping to find a connection between games and a variety of improved physical behavior.

The reason why they hoped gaming could prove effective is partly due to its interactive nature, but mainly because of games’ widespread adoption.

“Given their widespread use and interactive capabilities, computer and videogames are an increasingly popular type of electronic media used in health interventions and have been a successful tool for health promotion and management of chronic medical conditions in children and adolescents,” the authors write.

Although the study pointed to tremendous potential, the overwhelming finding was that potential remains largely untested and untapped. Of the five studies that dealt specifically with healthy behavior, the authors identified studies of games that targeted asthma and sexual behavior. Of this group, four studies showed marked improvement among those students who were exposed to the games.

The authors concluded that students exposed to health-oriented games “showed improvement in self-management and risk reduction behaviors in young adolescents, which may be an age group that is most amenable to adopting positive health and safety behaviors.”

The hope is now researchers will make a more concerted effort to test the effects of gaming on improving the physical and health habits of young people.