The Kids Obesity Prevention Program: Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate a Serious Game for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity

BACKGROUND: Health games provide opportunities for the treatment and prevention of childhood obesity. We developed a motion-controlled serious game for children that addresses 3 core topics of nutrition, physical activity, and stress coping. It is the first serious game that extensively targets the dietary energy density principle (DED-P) in relation to nutrition. The game is intended to provide an additional educational component for the prevention and treatment of obesity in children. OBJECTIVE: The Kids Obesity Prevention study aimed to evaluate the newly developed game and to evaluate how well children are able to understand and apply the DED-P. METHODS: This cluster randomized controlled trial collected data from 82 primary school children aged 9 to 12 years and their parents at baseline (T0), at 2 weeks after study commencement (T1), and at the 4-week follow-up (T2). The dropout rate was 3.6%. The intervention group (IG) played the game within 2 weeks (2 sessions with different game modules). One part of the game involves selection of food with the lower energy density when presented with a pair of foods. This allows assessment of whether the children have understood the DED-P and whether they can apply it to unknown foods under time pressure. The control group (CG) received a brochure about the food pyramid concept and physical activity. The primary outcome was the gain in knowledge (nutrition and stress coping) and measured with a pretested questionnaire. The secondary outcomes were the maintenance of knowledge, application of the DED-P, feelings during game play, game acceptance, and behavioral measures (physical activity, media consumption, and dietary intake). RESULTS: The knowledge score ranging from 0 to 100 increased from T0 (IG: 53 [SD 10], CG: 50 [SD 11]) to T1 (IG: 69 [SD 11], CG: 52 [SD 12]) in IG versus CG (P<.001). At T2, the knowledge score of IG remained at the same level as that of T1. Game data showed that after DED-P education, the classification under time pressure of unknown versus known food pairs according to their DED category was similar (hit rate around 70%). Overall, 95% of the children liked the game very much or much. No group changes were observed at the behavioral level. CONCLUSIONS: The Kids Obesity Prevention program sustainably increased knowledge in the areas of nutrition and stress coping, and children were able to apply the DED-P. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02551978; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02551978