Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27670222›Full record

ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2016

Evaluation of a Serious Self-Regulation Game Intervention for Overweight-Related Behaviors ("Balance It"): A Pilot Study.

Jorinde Spook, Theo Paulussen, Gerjo Kok, Pepijn van Empelen

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
24citing papers in PubMed, 8 pooled it
3.1field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

24 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 43 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Jorinde SpookTNO, Life Style, Leiden, Netherlands. jorinde.spook@wur.nl.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1286-2479
Theo PaulussenORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4978-6246
Gerjo KokORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3501-4096
Pepijn van EmpelenORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9809-7650
Maastricht University · NLNetherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSerious games have the potential to promote health behavior. Because overweight is still a major issue among secondary vocational education students in the Netherlands, this study piloted the effects of "Balance It," a serious self-regulation game intervention targeting students' overweight-related behaviors: dietary intake and physical activity (PA).

objectiveWe aimed to pilot the effects of Balance It on secondary vocational education students' dietary intake and PA.

methodsIn total, 501 secondary vocational education students participated at baseline (intervention: n=250; control: n=251) in this pre-post cluster randomized trial. After 4 weeks, at immediate posttest, 231 students filled in the posttest questionnaire (intervention: n=105; control: n=126). The sample had a mean age of 17.28 (SD 1.26, range 15-21) years, 62.8% (145/231) were female, and 26.8% (62/231) had a non-Dutch background. Body mass index (BMI kg/m

resultsAfter corrections for multiple testing, we did not find significant differences between the intervention group and control group in terms of dietary intake, PA, and determinants of dietary intake and PA. Exploratory research indicated that only 27.6% (29/105) of the intervention group reported actual intervention use (ie, active users). For exploratory reasons, we compared the active users (n=29) with the control group (n=124) and corrected for multiple testing. Results showed that active users' snack consumption decreased more strongly (active users: mean change=-0.20; control group: mean change=-0.08; beta=-0.36, P=.01, R

conclusionsThe Balance It intervention did not show favorable effects on dietary intake and PA compared to the control condition. However, only a small number of people in the intervention condition actually used Balance It (27.6%). Exploratory analyses did suggest that, if used as planned, Balance It could contribute to changing dietary intake and PA behaviors, albeit it remains debatable whether this would be sufficient to prevent overweight.

Indexed as

Balance Itdietary intakeeffect evaluationhealth promotionphysical activityprevention and controlself-regulationserious game

Identifiers

PMID27670222
PMCPMC5057062
OpenAlexW2526129987

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.