A Digital Game on Promoting Family Well-being

SMART Family-Link Project: A Digital Game on Promoting Family Well-being

Advances in information communication technologies (ICT) allow for ICT-assisted health promotion to become more common. Integrating ICT in health promotion has been suggested to offer many advantages compared to traditional approaches to promote family well-being. Research has also shown the positive effects of game-based approaches in enhancing health promotion interventions, especially with children. We will develop and conduct an online survey to assess the use of games and gamification for health promotion, as well as a family-based randomized controlled trial to promote healthy living.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Family Research; Family-centered Care
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Exercise-themed game; Behavioral: Diet-themed game

Detailed Description

With growing emphasis on the development and maintenance of healthy lifestyles, the family role has increasing importance. A family-based health promotion strategy can be instrumental in helping disseminate and reinforce knowledge and behaviours on family well-being and better equip families to protect themselves and promote family well-being beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the pandemic led to increased sedentary behavior and unhealthy eating. New, innovative health promotion strategies and approaches to increase physical activity and healthy diet and enhance well-being are needed.

This study aims to investigate and use a game-based approach to enhance knowledge and behaviours on healthy living and family well-being. We will conduct quantitative and qualitative evaluation. The findings would provide evidence of the feasibility and effectiveness of such an approach in a family-based context. It would also guide the direction for future health education and awareness trials and related projects and campaigns for health promotion efforts and to help improve family well-being in the Hong Kong community and elsewhere.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 800
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Agnes Y Lai, PhD; Phone Number: 85239176779; Email: agneslai@hku.hk
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Shirley M Sit, MPhil; Email: ssit@connect.hku.hk

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
    • The University of Hong Kong
    • Contact: Shirley M Sit, MPhil; Email: ssit@connect.hku.hk
    • Contact: Agnes Y Lai, PhD; Phone Number: 85239176283; Email: agneslai@hku.hk

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Chinese-speaking;
• Parental consent for those under 18;
• Able to understand and play the game;
• Has a smartphone.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Individuals who cannot meet the inclusion criteria.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Exercise-themed game; The intervention includes an exercise-themed quiz game and monitored step count.	Behavioral: Exercise-themed game; The intervention includes three parts: quiz questions on knowledge on and benefits of exercise; monitored step count using smartphone tracker; whatsapp reminders on the benefits of exercise.
Active Comparator: Diet-themed game; The intervention includes a diet-themed quiz game.	Behavioral: Diet-themed game; The intervention includes two parts: quiz questions on knowledge on and benefits of healthy diet; whatsapp reminders on the benefits of healthy diet.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Step count	Average daily step count	Baseline and one month

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Family well-being knowledge and behaviors	Change assessed by outcome-based questions (scores from 0 to 10, higher scores indicate better knowledge and behaviors)	Baseline and one month
Perceived improved family happiness	Change assessed by a validated one-item Family Happiness scale (score from 0 to 10, higher scores indicate more family happiness).	Baseline and one month
Game satisfaction score	Overall game rating (on a scale of 0-5, higher scores indicate higher satisfaction).	One month
Self-reported healthy habits	Change assessed by frequency-based questions related to exercise levels and consumption of fruits and vegetables (scores from 0 to 7 days, higher scores indicate more engagement in healthy habits)	Baseline and one month

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The University of Hong Kong

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Edwards EA, Lumsden J, Rivas C, Steed L, Edwards LA, Thiyagarajan A, Sohanpal R, Caton H, Griffiths CJ, Munafo MR, Taylor S, Walton RT. Gamification for health promotion: systematic review of behaviour change techniques in smartphone apps. BMJ Open. 2016 Oct 4;6(10):e012447. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012447.
• Ameryoun A, Sanaeinasab H, Saffari M, Koenig HG. Impact of Game-Based Health Promotion Programs on Body Mass Index in Overweight/Obese Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Child Obes. 2018 Feb/Mar;14(2):67-80. doi: 10.1089/chi.2017.0250. Epub 2017 Nov 29.
• Chagas CMDS, Pontes E Silva TB, Reffatti LM, Botelho RBA, Toral N. Rango Cards, a digital game designed to promote a healthy diet: a randomized study protocol. BMC Public Health. 2018 Jul 24;18(1):910. doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5848-0.
• Runacres A, Mackintosh KA, Knight RL, Sheeran L, Thatcher R, Shelley J, McNarry MA. Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sedentary Time and Behaviour in Children and Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Oct 27;18(21):11286. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182111286.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): October 30, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 30, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): March 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 1, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 1, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): October 3, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 3, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 1, 2024
• Last Verified: October 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Gamification; Family well-being
• Other Study ID Numbers: UW 20-353-2

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Will share after the study is completed
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: After the study is completed
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: The minimal anonymized dataset will be available upon request to interested researchers. For interested researchers, please contact, Ms Shirley Sit (email ssit@connect.hku.hk), (School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong) for further information.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No