Date: May 29, 2008
Grant Funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Tennis, boxing and bowling, all while playing video games? Could video games that require players to get up and move, also known as “exergames,” increase physical activity among users? That’s one of the questions researchers from University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) School of Medicine want to answer.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has awarded the UC San Diego Department of Family and Preventive Medicine a $198,000 grant to explore how interactive digital games could be designed to improve player health behaviors and outcomes. UC San Diego joins 11 other research teams supported in this first round of funding from Health Games Research, an RWJF national program established to support innovative research into the development and use of games to achieve desirable health outcomes.
SSD/XaviX, a Japanese technology company, whose US branch is located in San Diego, will provide UC San Diego researchers with the equipment. Adolescents, aged 11 to 15, will participate in studies designed to identify factors in exergames that motivate young people to play them. The researchers also will investigate how the social interactions that take place during game play influence health behavior change.
“We want to know what aspects about exergames, under what conditions, can capture an adolescent’s attention, particularly in an environment where there are a lot of alternative sedentary things to do such as watch TV, play non-active video games or sit at the computer,” says Gregory Norman, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and the principal investigator in this research. “Working with XaviX on this research will give us an opportunity to determine what psychological factors need to be included in exergames to motivate and sustain adolescent physical activity levels.”
Health Games Research is headquartered at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The program is directed by Debra Lieberman, Ph.D., communication researcher in the university’s Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research; lecturer in the Department of Communication; and a leading expert in the research and design of interactive media for learning and health behavior change. Health Games Research is funded by an $8.25 million grant from RWJF’s Pioneer Portfolio, which supports innovative projects that may lead to breakthrough improvements in the future of health and health care.
“This groundbreaking study led by UC San Diego will identify new interactive behavioral health strategies to use in the design of future health games and technologies,” Lieberman said. “Together, the 12 studies funded in this round will help us better understand how people respond to various types of health games, and this will potentially lead to new game-based applications that can more effectively engage and motivate players to improve their health.”
The 12 grantees were selected from 112 research organizations that applied for Health Games Research funding during the first funding call, which focused on games that engage players in physical activity and/or games that promote and improve players’ self-care. In January 2009, Health Games Research will issue its next call for proposals, awarding up to an additional $2 million in grants.
As UC San Diego and the other grantees conduct their studies, Health Games Research will provide them with ongoing assistance and research resources.
“We are excited to be working with UC San Diego on this project, as it is well aligned with our company’s mission to encourage everyone to take charge of their health by being more active in their daily lives. What is most exciting is that they will also measure social activity and its influence on health behavior change,” said Peter Newman, General Manager, SSD/XaviX.
About UC San Diego School of Medicine
UC San Diego is one of only five research universities to have both a medical school and engineering school ranked in the top 15 by U.S. News and World Report (March 2006). The UC San Diego School of Medicine ranked 14th overall, and 5th among public research-focused medical schools in this year’s U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools” ranking.
XaviX® multiprocessor chip is the core technology behind SSD Company Limited. The XaviX processor is the heart of the XaviX System and provides the foundation for a variety of products like interactive sports, fitness, education and music. SSD was founded in Japan in 1995 with a vision of bringing innovative products to improve health and well-being into the world. For more information, visit http://www.exergamefitness.com/xavix_power_boxing.htm
About Health Games Research
Health Games Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer Portfolio, supports research to enhance the quality and impact of interactive games used to improve health. Its grantees conduct outstanding, innovative, theory-grounded research aimed at discovering effective principles of health game design. For more information, visit http://www.healthgamesresearch.org/ or contact them at healthgamesresearch@isber.ucsb.edu.
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. The Foundation’s Pioneer Portfolio supports innovative ideas and projects that may trigger important breakthroughs in health and health care. Projects in the Pioneer Portfolio are future-oriented and look beyond conventional thinking to explore solutions at the cutting edge of health and health care. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org/pioneer
Media Contact: Kim Edwards, 619-543-6163, kedwards@ucsd.edu
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