A new mixed reality game may be the key to helping kids stay more active, according to a new study from the University of Georgia.
Children participating in the study who were assigned to a mixed reality kiosk featuring a digital fitness program saw a significant increase in activity compared to the control group.
The study focused on more than 300 children and their parents enrolled in after-school programs with the YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta. Half were assigned to the kiosk while the rest used a computer program for setting exercise goals without social feedback.
The digital fitness program used a virtual dog designed by the research team to guide children on how to set physical activity goals and to encourage them in fulfilling their goals. The researchers wanted to see how a sense of independence drives a child’s fitness goals by setting the mixed reality kiosk to give them the freedom to set their own intended result.
Fitbits tracked the activity of each child. If they reached their fitness objective, they were able to play with the dog.
As the kids reached their goals, the dog became healthier, allowing the children to play with it longer and teach it more complex tricks.
Parents and guardians also played an integral role, receiving text messages about their child’s progress in real time to then be able to send their own words of encouragement.
“Giving kids a video game and expecting them to exercise using it to lose weight or increase physical activity is a tall order,” said Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, lead author of the study and a professor in UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and director of the Center for Advanced Computer-Human Ecosystems (CACHE).
“Everybody needs some level of support and social relationships to really sustain that change. It turns out that we can use technology to help the parents and kids stay connected and help them drive that common family goal of making sure that the kids are staying active and healthy.”
This study was published in npj Digital Medicine and was co-authored by Michael D. Schmidt, of UGA’s Mary Frances Early College of Education; Allan D. Tate, Stephen Rathbun and Christian Okitondo, of UGA’s College of Public Health; Rebecca N. Grimsley, of the CACHE center at Grady College; and Kyle Johnsen, of UGA’s College of Engineering.
Additional co-authors include James J. Annesi, Lindsay Hahn and Eric Novotny.
