The University of California in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Pioneer Portfolio have been working on a fantastic health games site this year for their national program Health Games Research.  Health Games Research funds research to advance the innovation and effectiveness of digital games and game technologies to improve health.

Just recently they launched the bulk of their website content in the form of a database, the Health Games Research Database, which has been getting quite a bit of attention these last few days.  Why?  Because it’s the largest database of health games and related conferences, organizations, publications, and resources to date.  As of today they boast:

• 74 Conferences and Events
• 337 Games
• 526 Organizations
• 398 Publications
• 125 Resources

The interview.

When I asked Dr. Debra Lieberman, director of Health Games Research and communication researcher at the University of California Santa Barbara about the undertaking, here’s what she had to say.

HG: Why did you decide to create this massive health games database?

DL: We decided to create the Health Games Research Database because there are so many people who are looking for information about health games and related research.  For example, for the past 15 years I have received at least 40 or 50 requests per month from people who want to talk with me to learn more about research, publications, behavioral health strategies, design, development, publishing, marketing, people, events, game titles, funding opportunities,and business ventures related to health games.  It is impossible to respond to all the requests and also get my own work done, and the number of requests has been increasing as the field continues to grow. I wanted to develop the database so I could point people to a dynamic resource they could explore to find the information they need.

HG: How many people did it take to make this database a reality?

DL: The information in the database was gathered and organized by the Health Games Research staff with the help of 10 student assistants at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  I especially want to thank our team’s project manager for the database, Erica Biely, and the deputy director at Health Games Research, Maria Chesley Fisk, for their diligent work and valuable ideas.  Erica has been the driving force of this project and we appreciate her many contributions.

HG: I assume aggregating all of this information was costly due to the number of staff required.  What was your major source of funding?

DL: We are very grateful to the Pioneer Portfolio of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, led by Pioneer team leader and senior program officer Paul Tarini, for their financial and collegial support for this project.

HG: As we all know, most of the information on health games is pretty scattered.  Can people make suggestions for additions to the database that may have been missed?

DL: We welcome community input to the database.  It has a Recommendation Form where people can suggest new content or revisions to existing content.  There are now more than 1,200 items in the database and we plan to add a lot more, and we would like to hear from our colleagues in a variety of fields who have more items to suggest.

HG: What an amazing accomplishment–congratulations!  How does it feel now that the database is complete?

DL: The three of us are very excited to have the database to use ourselves and to share with our colleagues in the wide-ranging health games field. My hope is that the database will spark new ideas and collaborations in the field that will help it grow in constructive and exciting directions.

A special healthGAMERS thanks.

On a personal note, I just wanted to extend my gratitude to Dr. Lieberman for answering my questions about their exciting database. As you can imagine, Dr. Lieberman is an extremely busy individual, but she always takes the time to respond, regardless of how small or large the request. The Health Games Research team was also kind enough to list our little blog on their resources page from the very beginning which has really assisted us in creating a dynamic, diverse reading audience.  Thank you so much Dr. Lieberman and team!

I cannot believe we are to part eight of eight in our series!  It’s been quite a journey, but here is the last piece of the puzzle.  Great Game Tenet #8: a great health game needs to be intelligently designed.

Designed to do amazing things.

This is an excellent tenet to wrap things up because an intelligently designed health game must have it all: great art, great feedback, great content, great re-playability.  In other words, plan, plan, plan, plan, plan!  The game must flow or you’ve got nothing but a static set of health information that no one sees.  The content must match the gameplay.  This is harder to do than it sounds and is the subject of research being conducted by one of the Health Gamer authors, Dr. Cynthia Phelps.

Health games that do it well.

To name a health game that is “intelligently designed” without having personally witnessed the design process, one must look at the data.  Two sets of data to be specific:

1. Did the target audience actually play the game and enjoy it?
2. Did the target audience change their health behavior(s) during and/or after gameplay?

When looking at these two sets, no one beats the type-1 diabetes game Packy & Marlon for Super Nintendo created back in the mid-90s.  The goal of this game was to improve self-management among diabetic children and adolescents (age 8-16) by playing the part of a diabetic elephant that must save a diabetic summer camp.  The player must manage their character’s blood glucose, insulin use, and food selection in the game.  Did this game answer our two questions well?  You be the judge:

1. Participants played an average of 1.5 hours per week during their spare time for 6 months.
2. After a 6 month trial, the treatment group (those that played Packy & Marlon versus a traditional video game) had a 77% decrease in diabetes-related emergencies.  There was also a significant (that’s scientifically valid) improvement in daily diabetes self-management behaviors along with increased self-efficacy and communication with parents about diabetes.

Content matched gameplay for a fun and effective health game.  This is what every health game developer hopes for.  Furthermore, one of the Investigators of this game, Debra Lieberman, is now the Director of the Health Games Research Institute in Santa Barbara.  All in all, I’d put Packy & Marlon in the “success” category.

I’m sure there are many other health games out there that belong on this list as well.  Feel free to list yours.

Recommended readings.

• Brown, SJ, Lieberman, DA, Gemeny, BA, Fan, YC, Wilson, DM, and Pasta, DJ. (1997). Educational video game for juvenile diabetes: Results of a controlled trial. Medical Informatics 22(1), 77-89.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced its 2009 Call for Proposals today.  A wide variety of researchers are encouraged to apply, including those with little experience in the field.  Submissions should be groundbreaking digital interactive game ideas that improve players’ physical activity and/or self-care.  Research ideas must also test one or more of these topics:

• behavioral health theories
• game design theories
• learning theories
• attitude change
• skill development

Grant details and important dates.

• 15 research grants to be awarded
• Each totaling $100K and $300K
• $2M given out for the year
• Call announced January 15, 2009
• Proposals due April 8, 2009
• Grant start date September 1, 2008
  

A program every health gamer should know about.

The Health Games Research is an $8.25M national program that “supports outstanding research to enhance the quality and impact of interactive games used to improve health.”  The program is directed by Dr. Debra Lieberman of the University of California, Santa Barbara.  Dr. Lieberman is the creator of several Nintendo-based games for health including Packy & Marlon (type 1 diabetes management) and Bronkie the Bronchiasaurus (asthma management).

For more information, visit the Health Games Research Call for Proposals page or see the Health Games Research page for further information about this amazing RWJF program.