Playnormous

Last updated

Playnormous was an online community of monster-themed games designed to change health behaviors in children and their parents. The games were developed in consultation with health researchers as a way to deliver game-based health interventions to the public at large. The games have been closed since 2016.

Contents

Overview

Playnormous was a website that focused on teaching kids, ages 6 to 15, and their parents about health by playing casual games, watching animations, and creating a personal monster world. The creators of Playnormous aimed to use fun as a modality to educate and inspire families to make healthier lifestyle choices regarding nutrition and physical activity.

The basis for Playnormous was its health game catalog. Playnormous games fall under the category of games for health, a genera of serious games. The games and animations were conceptualized, designed, and field-tested with the help of medical researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Baylor College of Medicine. [1] [2]

History

The Playnormous site was created as a way to deliver successful health intervention programs to the public. The site was created by Playnormous, LLC, an online game developer based in Houston, Texas. Playnormous, LLC is a subsidiary of Archimage, an award-winning visual design studio and serious game developer. The Playnormous team was led by Playnormous President Jerald Reichstein, AIA. The subsidiary was founded on April 18, 2007, but the site did not go live until May 2008. [3] Because the Playnormous website was designed using Adobe Flash, with the advent of mobile computing platforms and new browser technology that no longer supported Flash, Archimage retired Playnormous.com in August 2015.

Playnormous Health Games

Food Fury was the first health game to be launched on the Playnormous site. Food Fury was originally funded by the Aetna Foundation as part of the Games for Wellness project conducted by Dr. Cynthia Phelps, assistant professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center. [4] This online game targets 3rd–5th graders to teach and change behavior around food choice and portion control. Food Fury allows children to practice the CATCH [5] method of food selection, known as "Go, Slow, Whoa". [6] [7] The game has been used in multiple settings including the YMCA's after school program to change nutrition behaviors in children. [8]

Research-based game development

Playnormous games were created using behavior-change theory as their foundation. Games were designed to change health behaviors by affecting mediators such as skills, confidence, and self-efficacy. [9] This includes:

Playnormous also used the research community to field test its games from conception to final product. Kids recruited by the Children's Nutrition Research Center played game prototypes. Dr. Cynthia Phelps of the University of Texas Health Science Center School of Health Information Sciences lead the beta testing team. The goal of testing the games was to ensure that they were not only educational and understandable, but also appealing and fun. [16]

Related Research Articles

Junk food Unhealthy food high in sugar or fat calories

"Junk food" is a term used to describe food that is high in calories from sugar and/or fat, and possibly also sodium, but with little dietary fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, or other important forms of nutritional value. It is also known as HFSS food. The term junk food is a pejorative dating back to the 1950s.

Physical education Educational course related to the physique and care of the human body

Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement exploration setting to promote health and physical fitness. Activities in P.E. include football, netball, hockey, rounders, cricket, four square, racing, and numerous other children's games. Physical education also teaches nutrition, healthy habits, and individuality of needs.

Orthorexia nervosa (ON) is a proposed eating disorder characterized by an excessive preoccupation with eating healthy food. The term was introduced in 1997 by American physician Steven Bratman, M.D. He suggested that some people's dietary restrictions intended to promote health may paradoxically lead to unhealthy consequences, such as social isolation, anxiety, loss of ability to eat in a natural, intuitive manner, reduced interest in the full range of other healthy human activities, and, in rare cases, severe malnutrition or even death.

Behavior change, in context of public health, refers to efforts put in place to change people's personal habits and attitudes, to prevent disease. Behavior change in public health can take place at several levels and is known as social and behavior change (SBC). More and more, efforts focus on prevention of disease to save healthcare care costs. This is particularly important in low and middle income countries, where supply side health interventions have come under increased scrutiny because of the cost.

Theory of planned behavior Theory that links behavior

The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is a psychological theory that links beliefs to behavior. The theory maintains that three core components, namely, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, together shape an individual's behavioral intentions. In turn, a tenet of TPB is that behavioral intention is the most proximal determinant of human social behavior.

Center for Science in the Public Interest American consumer advocacy group

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit watchdog and consumer advocacy group that advocates for safer and healthier foods.

Health education Education for awareness of and influence on the attitude of health

Health education is a profession of educating people about health. Areas within this profession encompass environmental health, physical health, social health, emotional health, intellectual health, and spiritual health, as well as sexual and reproductive health education.

Theory of reasoned action

The theory of reasoned action aims to explain the relationship between attitudes and behaviors within human action. It is mainly used to predict how individuals will behave based on their pre-existing attitudes and behavioral intentions. An individual's decision to engage in a particular behavior is based on the outcomes the individual expects will come as a result of performing the behavior. Developed by Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen in 1967, the theory derived from previous research in social psychology, persuasion models, and attitude theories. Fishbein's theories suggested a relationship between attitude and behaviors. However, critics estimated that attitude theories were not proving to be good indicators of human behavior. The TRA was later revised and expanded by the two theorists in the following decades to overcome any discrepancies in the A-B relationship with the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and reasoned action approach (RAA). The theory is also used in communication discourse as a theory of understanding.

A serious game or applied game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. The "serious" adjective is generally prepended to refer to video games used by industries like defense, education, scientific exploration, health care, emergency management, city planning, engineering, and politics. Serious games are a subgenre of serious storytelling, where storytelling is applied "outside the context of entertainment, where the narration progresses as a sequence of patterns impressive in quality ... and is part of a thoughtful progress". The idea shares aspects with simulation generally, including flight simulation and medical simulation, but explicitly emphasizes the added pedagogical value of fun and competition.

In psychology, the I-change model or the Integrated Model, for explaining motivational and behavioral change, derives from the Attitude – Social Influence – Self-Efficacy Model, integrates ideas of Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior, Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory, Prochaska's Transtheoretical Model, the Health Belief Model, and Goal setting theories. Previous versions of this model have been used to explain a variety of types of health behavior.

Dairy Council of California provides free nutrition education programs to California children and adults through teachers and health professionals. In addition, the Dairy Council of California provides a Mobile Dairy Classroom, a free outdoor assembly with a live cow. The organization also provides consumers with nutrition information through a website, HealthyEating.org.

Archimage is a Houston-based visual arts studio that has used its experience in computer-based architecture to specialize in Serious Video Game development for the medical research community. Archimage created Escape From Diab and Nanoswarm: Invasion from Inner Space, two multimillion-dollar PC games funded by the National Institutes of Health to combat obesity and type 2 diabetes in children.

Wellspring Camps were a group of children's health and wellness camps located in La Jolla, California, and Melbourne, Florida. The camps focused on changing behavior and eating patterns to create long-term healthy lifestyles for participants. Due to "economic feasibility" Wellspring Camps is not currently operating.

School Breakfast Program Federally subsidized US program providing breakfast at K-12 schools

The School Breakfast Program is a federally funded meal program that provides free and reduced cost breakfasts to children at public and private schools, and child care facilities in the United States. All children in participating schools and residential institutions are eligible for a federally subsidized meal, regardless of family income. However, free meals must be offered to children from families with incomes below 130% of the federal poverty level, and reduced price meals to those with family incomes between 130% and 185% of the poverty level. Those families over 185% poverty level have to pay full price for their meals which are set by the school. Even though the children have to pay for their own meals, the school is still reimbursed to some extent.

HealthCorps is an American nonprofit organization that provides school-based and organizational health education and peer mentoring in addition to community outreach to underserved populations. Its mission is to strengthen communities by highlighting innovative approaches to health and wellness to build resilience in America's youth. Students learn life-saving skills in nutrition, fitness and mental resilience as well as hands-on CPR training, organ donation and more.

The Jane and Robert Cizik School of Nursing at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston (UTHealth) is an American nursing education institution.

The Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior (SNEB) is an American non-profit organization that represents the professional interests of nutrition educators in the United States and worldwide. The organization was founded as the Society for Nutrition Education in 1968 as a non-profit organization to publish the Journal of Nutrition Education. Once the Journal was established the Society expanded its purposes to include education, communication and research activities. The first issue of the Journal was published as Summer in 1969.

Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less

Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less is a 15-week adult weight management program that uses strategies based on evidence for weight loss and/or weight maintenance. The Eat Smart Move More Weigh Less classes focus on the 12 evidence-based eating and physical activity behaviors for weight management. The program does not provide a prescriptive diet plan, it teaches small lifetime changes. The program teaches mindfulness as a strategy to become more aware of eating and physical activity. Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less includes methods for planning and tracking healthy eating and physical activity behaviors. In 2007, Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less curriculum was developed by a writing team from North Carolina State University and North Carolina Division of Public Health. A complete listing of authors and their respective affiliations can be found on the program website. The 15-lesson curriculum was peer reviewed by state and local nutrition and physical activity professionals, representatives from the medical community, and a CDC project officer.

This article summarizes healthcare in Texas. In 2017, the United Healthcare Foundation ranked Texas as the 34th healthiest state in the United States. Obesity, excessive drinking, maternal mortality, infant mortality, and vaccinations are among the major public health issues facing Texas.

A Behavioral Change Support System (BCSS) is any information and communications technology (ICT) tool, web platform, or gamified environment which targets behavioral changes in its end-users. BCSS are built upon persuasive systems design techniques.

References

  1. Houston Business Journal. Houston team rolls dice in health games industry, May 23, 2008
  2. HealthLeader Magazine, Playnormous! Archived December 12, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  3. Houston Business Journal, Traditional gaming companies ready to play games with health, December 2008
  4. Aetna Foundation 2006 Grant Listing
  5. "CATCH". Archived from the original on January 1, 2009. Retrieved December 29, 2008.
  6. "CATCH at The University of Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health". Archived from the original on March 12, 2008. Retrieved December 29, 2008.
  7. "UTHSC News, Aetna Foundation supports Games for Wellness to address childhood obesity. Feb 2007". Archived from the original on August 20, 2009. Retrieved December 29, 2008.
  8. Phelps, Cynthia L. PhD; Shegog, Ross PhD; Reichstein, Jerald; Frazior, McKee; Wilsdon, Jon; Kim, Yeon Jung; Willcockson, Irmgard PhD; Evans, Alexandria PhD, MPH; Perez, Adriana PhD, MPH; and Hoelscher, Deanna PhD, RD, LD, CNS, "Food Fury: Online Casual Game Development for Nutrition Education" (2007). Advances in Teaching and Learning Day Abstracts, Paper 64.
  9. Baranowski T, Buday R, Thompson D, Baranowski J. (2008) Playing for Real: Video games and stories for health-related behavior change. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 34, 1, 74–82.
  10. Bandura, A. (1989). Human Agency in Social Cognitive Theory. American Psychologist, 44, 1175–1184
  11. Deci E and Ryan R. (1985) Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior.
  12. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1988) Optimal Experience Psychological Studies of Flow in Consciousness. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press.
  13. Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). Communication and Persuasion: Central and Peripheral Routes to Attitude Change. New York: Springer-Verlag.
  14. Ajzen I (1985). From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In J Kuhl & J Beckmann (Eds.), Action control: From cognition to behavior. Berlin, Heidelber, New York: Springer-Verlag.
  15. Ajzen I & Fishbein M (2005). The influence of attitudes on behavior. In Albarracin D, Johnson BT, Zanna MP (Eds.), The handbook of attitudes, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  16. CATCH eKids Club: Creating Healthier Kids With An Online Game Environment, Changemakers