{"62083":{"#nid":"62083","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Mobile Phone Game Trains Players to Make Healthier Diet Choices","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EATLANTA \u2013 October 12, 2010 \u2013 With Halloween and the holiday season fast approaching, many people will be watching their waistlines as they\u2019re tempted by a cornucopia of sugary and savory foods. Meanwhile a Georgia Tech College of Computing Ph.D. candidate has shown that playing health-related video games on a mobile device can help adults learn to live more healthfully by making smart diet choices. The finding is published in the paper, \u201cLet\u2019s Play! Mobile Health Games for Adults,\u201d recently presented at Ubicomp 2010 in Copenhagen, Denmark.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOrderUP! is a different take on the recent trend of health-related gaming that includes \u201cexergames,\u201d in which players get a genuine workout while playing. OrderUP! instead seeks to educate players about how to make healthy eating choices in situations nearly everyone encounters regularly in their lives. By casting players as virtual restaurant servers, Order UP! forces players to make healthy\u2014and fast\u2014menu decisions for a group of demanding, impatient customers. The research was supported by Humana, Microsoft and Nokia.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEven a single-player casual game can potentially have affects beyond those who play it,\u201d said Beki Grinter, the project\u2019s principal investigator and associate professor in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Interactive Computing. \u201cThe most important finding from the OrderUP! project was how the game was integrated into conversations players had with other players and non-players about things that they had learned, particularly things that confronted their assumptions about healthy choices.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe game works like this: One at a time, 10 virtual \u201ccustomers\u201d approach the counter with three possible food choices; for example, the choices could be a fried chicken thigh, a jerk chicken breast or gumbo. They\u2019re then asked to make the healthiest choice, with only a few moments to pick before the customer gets impatient and leaves. Players start with 1,000 health points, and as they make unhealthy choices for their customers (or as the customers get tired of waiting and leave) their health points drop. The object of the game is to continue serving food as long as possible.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAll health games, or any kind of \u2018serious\u2019 game with a purpose beyond entertainment, always have the challenge of making the game fun versus getting across the information you want to get across,\u201d said the game\u2019s creator, Andrea Grimes Parker, a Ph.D. candidate in Human-Centered Computing in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Interactive Computing. \u201cOur participants said [OrderUP!] led them to have discussions about nutrition. People would ask them about the game, and that led them to start comparing food choices and information.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo gauge the game\u2019s effectiveness, Parker and her colleagues measured participants\u2019 health behaviors using the Transtheoretical Model (TTM), a well-established health behavior theory. TTM helped them characterize and measure four processes of change participants displayed: consciousness raising, self-reevaluation, engaging in helping relationships, and counter-conditioning.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers tested OrderUP! with a group of 12 African American participants over varied ages, with the youngest in the 18-to-24 range and the oldest over 60. All participants were given Nokia N95 devices with OrderUP! preloaded and asked to play the game at least once a week for the three-week duration of the study. Participants played much more than that, indicating the game\u2019s strong entertainment value in addition to being a learning tool.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur focus on African Americans from the very beginning of the project ensured that we could design with contextually relevant motifs, with [relevant] data and personas\u2014which made the game more engaging and relatable for the intended users,\u201d said Vasudhara Kantroo, a 2010 master\u2019s graduate in human-computer interaction who worked on OrderUP! \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We found that, after playing OrderUP! for just three weeks, we saw people engage in behaviors and thinking consistent with the processes of change identified by the TTM,\u201d Parker said. \u201cIn particular, we found that people learned how to make healthier choices when eating out, reassessed the healthiness of their current eating habits, began having productive conversations about healthy eating with people in their social network and, finally, actually started introducing healthier foods into their diet.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EParker and her colleagues researched all nutrition data while designing the game, but in the interest of quick and engaging play, had kept nearly all that data out of the playing experience. \u201cOne finding that was a bit surprising was just how much people translated what they saw in the game to their own lives. Another surprise was that players wanted more detailed information about nutrition values,\u201d Parker said. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201c[Our findings] suggest various lines of direction,\u201d Grinter continued. \u201cWhat other technological interventions could be made that would be engaging and surprising enough that they would create conversation? What else might be done that, while focused on individuals, could have outcomes that draw in social networks. How are they drawn in? What, if any, are the lasting implications of that?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOrderUP! fits into a larger research profile within the College of Computing of trying to determine how the ubiquity of mobile devices can be leveraged to improve users\u2019 health. For example, other projects have examined using mobile phones to help manage diabetes, as a means to access electronic health records, or simply as a way to quickly access health and nutrition information. The idea is rapidly gaining currency. First lady Michelle Obama\u2019s initiative to fight childhood obesity recently held a contest, \u201cApps for Healthy Kids,\u201d that awarded prizes to software developers, game designers and students for the best kid-targeted apps that promote healthier lifestyles.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere\u2019s a wide open design space associated with mobile gaming,\u201d Grinter said.\u201cAndrea\u0027s work is a part of understanding that space.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFuture development of OrderUP! will include a longer study to measure player behavior change over an extended period of time, as well as an expanded game with more levels, more food choices and more nutritional information available to the player.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E###\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAbout the Georgia Tech College of Computing\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech College of Computing is a national leader in the creation of real-world computing breakthroughs that drive social and scientific progress. With its graduate program ranked 10th nationally by U.S. News and World Report, the College\u2019s unconventional approach to education is defining the new face of computing by expanding the horizons of traditional computer science students through interdisciplinary collaboration and a focus on human centered solutions. For more information about the Georgia Tech College of Computing, its academic divisions and research centers, please visit \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\u0022 title=\u0022http:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EContacts\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMichael Terrazas\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssistant Director of Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECollege of Computing at Georgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:mterraza@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emterraza@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404-245-0707\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"\u0027OrderUP!\u0027 helps change health behaviors after three weeks of playing"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECollege of Computing Ph.D. candidate Andrea Grimes Parker has shown that \nplaying health-related video games on a mobile device can help adults \nlearn to live more healthfully by making smart diet choices. \u003Cem\u003ESource: Office of Communications\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27174","created_gmt":"2010-10-12 08:35:11","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:07:34","author":"Mike Terrazas","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-10-12T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2010-10-12T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"2356","name":"gaming"},{"id":"398","name":"health"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFor more information, contact \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:mterraza@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMichael Terrazas\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}