Let’s Play! Mobile Health Games for Adults UbiComp’10

Outline Introduction Related Work Game Design Method Results Discussion Conclusion

Introduction(1/2) In this paper it has examined how mobile devices can encourage adults to live healthfully. Designing a casual nutrition game for mobile phones called OrderUP!

Introduction(2/2) Using the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) to frame the results. –Consciousness raising –Self reevaluation –Helping relationships –Counter-conditioning

Related Work(1/5) Games for Health –The majority of health-oriented games have been exergames –Applications that encourage exercise because players must engage in physical activity to play. Example: Sport over distance[13] Shadow boxer[9]

Related Work(2/5)

Related Work(3/5)

Related Work(4/5) Casual Games –Casual games differ from traditional video games in that they have simple rules easy to learn and play require very little video game expertise –Mobile casual games are appealing because they act as an easy way for people to fill time

Related Work(5/5) The Transtheoretical Model –Consciousness raising –Self reevaluation –Helping relationships –Counter conditioning

Game Design(1/4) The player assumes the role of a server in a restaurant. Making meal recommendations to customers as quickly and healthfully as possible.

Game Design(2/4) 10 customer characters appear –Health score of 100 points –Presenting with three randomly chosen meal options –Deciding which among these options is the healthiest –Receiving stoplight feedback

Game Design(3/4) Deriving a health value for each dish –Gathering nutrition data by popular restaurant chains in the U.S. –Searching an online recipe website

Game Design(4/4) With every dish that the player chooses for a customer, that customer’s health score decreases. –the healthier the selection made and the longer the player stays in the game.

Method(1/4) Giving 12 participants a Nokia N95 cell phone with OrderUP! installed on it to use for three weeks. Using surveys, diaries and interviews to triangulate how OrderUP! impacted our participants.

Method(2/4) Participants also completed short diary entries during the study. –The date and time that they played the game. –Where they played. –Their final score. –How entertaining the game was and. –If the game caused them to think about their eating habits, and if so how.

Method(3/4) Participants –10 female and 2 male. –4 were married and 10 had children. –7 in age, two in 55 or older range, two age, one in the –…..

Method(4/4) Analysis –Recording all survey responses and diary entries. –Looking for trends in the data and examining how participants' answers changed.

Results(1/6)

Results(2/6) Learning How to Eat More Healthfully – Correcting One’s Previous Understanding. – Learning How One Can Personally Eat Healthier.

Results(3/6) Analyzing & Trying to Understand – Portions & Preparation: Heuristics for Decision-Making. – A Desire for More Feedback.

Results(4/6) Assessing the Healthiness of One’s Eating Habits – Playing OrderUP! led them to think about their own nutrition-related behaviors.

Results(5/6) Discussing Nutrition with Others – Playing OrderUP! Led nine participants to have discussions about nutrition and eating with people in their social network.

Results(6/6) Modifying Eating Habits – people begin to substitute healthier actions for detrimental ones.

Discussion(1/5) Consciousness Raising & Dramatic Relief: – Consciousness Raising: People increasing their knowledge about health-related behaviors. – Dramatic Relief: deeper internalization of and emotional reactions to this knowledge. – Future work: Examine the usefulness of lightweight feedback

Discussion(2/5) Helping Relationships – Casual mobile games are useful for encouraging health-related interaction between adults.

Discussion(3/5) Counter-conditioning – Individuals begin replacing problematic behaviors with healthier ones. – Seeing the relative healthiness of different foods and having a better understanding of how to make healthier choices when they visit restaurants.

Discussion(4/5) Self-Reevaluation – For individuals to engage in healthy and unhealthy behaviors.

Conclusion(5/5) The impact that casual mobile health games can have on adults. Engage in processes of change.

Q&A