Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39133533›Full record

ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2024

The Impact of a Gamified Intervention on Daily Steps in Real-Life Conditions: Retrospective Analysis of 4800 Individuals.

Alexandre Mazéas, Cyril Forestier, Guillaume Harel, Martine Duclos, Aïna Chalabaev

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In one paragraph

Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

5 citing papers in PubMed.

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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

5 authors.

Alexandre MazéasLaboratoire Sport et Environnement Social (SENS), Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.ORCID 0000-0002-0255-6032
Cyril ForestierLaboratoire Motricité, Interactions, Performance (MIP - UR4334), Nantes Université, Nantes, France.ORCID 0000-0001-8154-5296
Guillaume HarelKiplin, Nantes, France.ORCID 0009-0006-9209-2011
Martine DuclosNational Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Clermont-Ferrand, France.ORCID 0000-0002-7158-386X
Aïna ChalabaevLaboratoire Sport et Environnement Social (SENS), Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.ORCID 0000-0002-1806-354X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDigital interventions integrating gamification features hold promise to promote daily steps. However, results regarding the effectiveness of this type of intervention are heterogeneous and not yet confirmed in real-life contexts.

objectiveThis study aims to examine the effectiveness of a gamified intervention and its potential moderators in a large sample using real-world data. Specifically, we tested (1) whether a gamified intervention enhanced daily steps during the intervention and follow-up periods compared to baseline, (2) whether this enhancement was higher in participants in the intervention than in nonparticipants, and (3) what participant characteristics or intervention parameters moderated the effect of the program.

methodsData from 4819 individuals who registered for a mobile health Kiplin program between 2019 and 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. In this intervention, participants could take part in one or several games in which their daily step count was tracked, allowing individuals to play with their overall activity. Nonparticipants were people who registered for the program but did not take part in the intervention and were considered as a control group. Daily step counts were measured via accelerometers embedded in either commercial wearables or smartphones of the participants. Exposure to the intervention, the intervention content, and participants' characteristics were included in multilevel models to test the study objectives.

resultsParticipants in the intervention group demonstrated a significantly greater increase in mean daily steps from baseline than nonparticipants (P<.001). However, intervention effectiveness depended on participants' initial physical activity. The daily steps of participants with <7500 baseline daily steps significantly improved from baseline both during the Kiplin intervention (+3291 daily steps) and the follow-up period (+945 daily steps), whereas participants with a higher baseline had no improvement or significant decreases in daily steps after the intervention. Age (P<.001) and exposure (P<.001) positively moderated the intervention effect.

conclusionsIn real-world settings and among a large sample, the Kiplin intervention was significantly effective in increasing the daily steps of participants from baseline during intervention and follow-up periods compared to nonparticipants. Interestingly, responses to the intervention differed based on participants' initial steps, with the existence of a plateau effect. Drawing on the insights of self-determination theory, we can assume that the effect of gamification could depend of the initial motivation and activity of participants.

Indexed as

Health PromotionMotivationRetrospective StudiesVideo GamesAccelerometryAdolescentAdultAgedExerciseFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedSmartphoneTelemedicineWalkingbehavior changedaily stepsexercisegamificationinterventionmHealthmobile healthmobile phonephysical activityreal world dataretrospectiveself-determination theorystepsteps

Identifiers

PMID39133533
PMCPMC11347891

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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.