HelperFriend, a Serious Game for Promoting Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors in Children: Design and Pilot Study

BACKGROUND: The use of health games is a promising strategy for educating and promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors among children. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to describe the design and development of a serious game, called HelperFriend, and evaluate its feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects in children in a pilot study. HelperFriend is a vicarious experiential video game designed to promote 3 lifestyle behaviors among young children: physical activity, healthy eating, and socioemotional wellness. METHODS: Participants aged 8 to 11 years were recruited from an elementary school and randomized to receive a healthy lifestyle behavior educational talk (control) or play six 30-minute sessions with HelperFriend (intervention). Assessments were conducted at baseline (T0) and after the intervention (ie, 4 weeks) (T1). The primary outcome was gain in knowledge. The secondary outcomes were intention to conduct healthy behaviors, dietary intake, and player satisfaction. RESULTS: Knowledge scores of intervention group participants increased from T0 to T1 for physical activity (t(14)=2.01, P=.03), healthy eating (t(14)=3.14, P=.003), and socioemotional wellness (t(14)=2.75, P=.008). In addition, from T0 to T1, the intervention group improved their intention to perform physical activity (t(14)=2.82, P=.006), healthy eating (t(14)=3.44, P=.002), and socioemotional wellness (t(14)=2.65, P=.009); and there was a reduction in their intake of 13 unhealthy foods. HelperFriend was well received by intervention group. CONCLUSIONS: HelperFriend appears to be feasible and acceptable for young children. In addition, this game seems to be a viable tool to help improve the knowledge, the intention to conduct healthy behaviors, and the dietary intake of children; however, a well-powered randomized controlled trial is needed to prove the efficacy of HelperFriend.