Basheerah Enahora, Gina L. Tripicchio, Régis Kopper et al. · Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior ·
OBJECTIVE: Examine the appeal of a virtual avatar-led nutrition education program among youth-serving community partners in North Carolina. METHODS: We surveyed community partners using the Diffusion of Innovation Theory constructs of relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity. Logistic regression evaluated the appeal and likelihood of the program's future use. RESULTS: Community partners (n = 100) agreed that the program was an innovative (87%) and convenient (85%) way for youth and parents to learn about nutrition. Partners who perceived the program as a relative advantage to current programs had significantly higher odds of future use intention (P = 0.005). Those who found it compatible with organizational and personal values had significantly higher odds of future use (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: A nutrition education virtual avatar program is of interest to youth-engaged community partners. Future research examining the potential integration of this type of program within community organizations is warranted.
José Ferrer Costa, Anna Maria Vallmitjana Soler, Pol Florences Serra et al. · JMIR Preprints ·
BACKGROUND Feeding difficulties and restrictive eating patterns are common among autistic children and adolescents, but evidence on immersive virtual reality (VR) for nutrition education in this population remains limited. NutriVRTEA was cocreated as an immersive VR intervention to support nutrition education within routine clinical care, with attention to sensory tolerability, interaction design and professional supervision. OBJECTIVE This study evaluated participant-perceived usability and acceptability of NutriVRTEA among autistic children and adolescents, together with professional-perceived usability. Intervention completion and tolerability were assessed as feasibility outcomes, while changes in attitudes toward healthy eating, Mediterranean diet adherence and feeding behaviors were examined as exploratory outcomes. METHODS We conducted a prospective, single-center, uncontrolled, single-arm pilot study at a child and adolescent mental health center in Badalona, Spain. Participants completed 4 individually supervised VR sessions of approximately 30 minutes, delivered about 2 weeks apart. The intervention used hand tracking, guided audiovisual instructions and 4 progressively…
Bruna Caroline Chaves Garcia, CARINA SOUSA SANTOS, Marina Luiza Baêta Costa et al. · Games for Health Journal ·
This study evaluated the effectiveness of a serious game, NutriGame—Your Food Guide, in communicating the NOVA food classification and healthy eating habits to adolescents. The study involved 65 adolescents of both sexes aged between 10 and 18 years. The intervention group ( n = 38) played the NutriGame for 14 days. They completed a food-related questionnaire that addressed issues of self-perception, self-efficacy, knowledge, and food attitude at three time points: Before (Pre), 14 (Post), and 90 days after NutriGame use (Post-90). The control group received no intervention. Following the use of NutriGame, adolescents reported an increased understanding of healthy eating (Pre 7.05 ± 1.83 points; Post 7.94 ± 1.33 points, P = 0.031) and considered their diet healthier (Pre 6.50 ± 1.64 points; Post 7.16 ± 1.11 points, P = 0.015). As did self-efficacy, the healthy eating knowledge score increased after playing NutriGame (27.82 ± 1.65 to 29.05 ± 1.45, P = 0.0001). There was also an improvement in food attitude (Pre: 20.58 ± 3.19 points; Post: 22.53 ± 3.12 points, P = 0.0009). These modifications resulted in the maintenance of the results 90 days post-intervention. These results…
Michal Krezalek, Clare Martin, David Duce et al. · Studies in health technology and informatics ·
Recognising carbohydrate content of food is an important part of diabetes self-management. This paper introduces an immersive virtual reality (VR) carbohydrate-sorting game as a design exploration aimed at supporting the cognitive skills involved in carbohydrate recognition. The design is informed by a cognitive-behavioural perspective focusing on visual categorisation, spatial estimation, and learning through feedback. An early VR prototype was developed using Unity 3D for Meta Quest 3, incorporating standardised food representations and interactive sorting tasks. Informal formative feedback from five domain experts was used to reflect on interaction flow and clarity of feedback, and to guide early design refinements. At this stage, no learning or behavioural outcomes were assessed. Future work will focus on empirical evaluation with people living with diabetes.
Haeril Haeril, Andi Atssam Mappanyukki, Nur Indah Atifah Anwar et al. · Universal Journal of Public Health ·
This study aims to analyze the effect of Virtual Reality (VR)-based games on the mental health, eating patterns, and body posture of children aged 13–15 years who actively play with gadgets. This study used a quasi-experimental design with a control group and an intervention group. The sample consisted of 66 respondents who were divided proportionally into two groups. The intervention in the form of VR games was given to the intervention group, while the control group did not receive any treatment. The results showed that VR games had a significant effect on improving mental health (p = 0.001) and eating patterns (p = 0.001) in the intervention group compared to the control group. Conversely, no significant differences were found in body posture variables in either the intra- group or inter-group analyses (p > 0.05). The conclusion of this study indicates that VR games have the potential to be an effective intervention medium in improving the mental health and eating behavior of children who actively play with gadgets but are not yet effective enough to influence changes in posture. This study recommends the development of VR interventions combined with structured physical…
Konstantinos Salomidis, Olga Malisova, Georgios Styliaras · Informatics ·
Childhood obesity has become a major public health concern worldwide, highlighting the need for innovative educational interventions that promote healthier dietary behaviors from an early age. Virtual reality (VR) serious games have emerged as a promising approach for supporting behavior change through immersive and interactive learning experiences. This paper presents the NutriQuest VR game, an immersive serious VR game designed to improve children’s nutritional decision-making through repeated food-selection tasks based on the Nutri-Score classification system. A total of 33 middle-school students participated in a six-week intervention consisting of six gameplay sessions. Children’s adherence to the Mediterranean diet was assessed before and after the intervention using the validated KIDMED 2.0 questionnaire, while participants’ in-game performance was recorded throughout the intervention. The results demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in children’s adherence to the Mediterranean diet, with mean KIDMED 2.0 scores increasing from 5.67 to 6.55 (p = 0.013, Cohen’s d = 0.459). Participants also showed a significant improvement in their in-game performance between…
Kamije Nkubili, Uwimana Bizhinda, Masudi Mpiranya et al. · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) ·
Virtual reality (VR) technology has shown promise in education settings, enhancing engagement and learning outcomes among diverse populations. This study focuses on its application in child nutrition education within pre-schools in Rwanda, a context where such interventions are underutilized. A mixed-methods approach was employed, involving a pilot study followed by a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with both control and experimental groups. Pre- and post-test assessments were conducted to measure learning outcomes, while qualitative data on participants' engagement levels were collected through interviews and observations. VR training significantly increased participant engagement in the educational sessions compared to traditional methods, with an average of 75% higher participation rates observed across all age groups. Post-intervention surveys revealed a notable improvement in nutritional knowledge among children exposed to VR (30% increase) relative to those in control groups. The findings suggest that VR can be effectively utilised as a tool for enhancing child nutrition education, particularly in pre-school settings where traditional methods may struggle to engage young…