ArticleJMIR serious games2022
HelperFriend, a Serious Game for Promoting Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors in Children: Design and Pilot Study.
Article in JMIR serious games, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of Digital Serious Games on Knowledge and Attitudes in Public Health Education: Systematic Review and Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Serious games and eating behaviors: A systematic review of the last 5 years (2018-2022).Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Pooled it
- Digital intervention targeting nutrition and physical activity behaviours among healthy individuals in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Article
- Evaluating the Efficacy of a Serious Game to Deliver Health Education About Invasive Meningococcal Disease: Clustered Randomized Controlled Equivalence Trial.JMIR serious games · 2025Article
- A Mobile Gaming App to Train Teenage Mothers on Appropriate Child Feeding Practices: Development and Validation Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- How do gamified digital therapeutics work on obesity self-management?Metabolism open · 2024Review
- Promoting Physical and Mental Health among Children and Adolescents via Gamification-A Conceptual Systematic Review.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Digital behavioral dietary interventions to promote a healthy diet among children and adolescents: a scoping review of technologies, design, behavioral theory, and assessed outcomes.Health psychology and behavioral medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe use of health games is a promising strategy for educating and promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors among children.
objectiveWe 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.
methodsParticipants 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.
resultsKnowledge scores of intervention group participants increased from T0 to T1 for physical activity (t
conclusionsHelperFriend 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.
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Registered trials
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