Serious Games for Nutritional Education: Online Survey on Preferences, Motives, and Behaviors Among Young Adults at University

Sophie Laura Holzmann; Hanna Schäfer; David Alexander Plecher; Lynne Stecher; Gudrun Johanna Klinker; Georg Groh; Hans Hauner; Christina Holzapfel

doi:10.2196/16216

Serious Games for Nutritional Education: Online Survey on Preferences, Motives, and Behaviors Among Young Adults at University

JMIR Serious Games. 2020 Jun 3;8(2):e16216. doi: 10.2196/16216.

Authors

Sophie Laura Holzmann¹, Hanna Schäfer², David Alexander Plecher³, Lynne Stecher¹, Gudrun Johanna Klinker³, Georg Groh², Hans Hauner¹, Christina Holzapfel¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Nutritional Medicine, Else Kröner-Fresenius-Center for Nutritional Medicine, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
² Research Group Social Computing, Department of Informatics, Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany.
³ Chair for Computer Aided Medical Procedures & Augmented Reality, Department of Informatics, Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany.

PMID: 32490847
PMCID: PMC7301263
DOI: 10.2196/16216

Abstract

Background: Data on nutritional information and digital gameplay are limited among young adults in Germany.

Objective: This survey aimed to gather data on nutritional information sources and digital games for nutritional education (preferences, motives, and behaviors) among young adults at both Munich universities in Germany.

Methods: An online survey was developed by an multidisciplinary research group using EvaSys, an in-house survey software. The questionnaire (47 items) covered questions about baseline characteristics (eg, housing situation and weight), nutrition (eg, nutritional information sources), and digital (nutritional) gameplay (eg, preferences, motives, and behaviors). A feedback field was also provided. This publication is based on a selection of 20 questions (7 baseline characteristics, 2 nutrition, 11 gameplay). Young adults, primarily Munich university students aged from 18 to 24 years, were invited to participate by digital and nondigital communication channels between 2016 and 2017. Statistical analyses were performed using Excel 2013 (Microsoft Corp) and R version 3.1.3 (R Foundation for Statistical Computing).

Results: In total, 468 young adults (342/468, 73.1% women; 379/468, 81.0% university students) participated. Most of the participants (269/468, 57.5%) were aged 18 to 24 years with a BMI in the normal weight range (346/447, 77.4%). Mean body weight was 65.5 [SD 14.0] kg. Most participants reported getting nutritional information from the internet (372/467, 79.7%) and printed media (298/467, 63.8%), less than 1.0% (2/467, 0.4%) named digital games. Apps (100/461, 21.7%) and university/workplace (146/461, 31.7%) were the most desired sources for additional information about nutrition, while 10.0% (46/461, 10.0%) of participants stated wanting digital games. Almost two-thirds (293/468, 62.6%) of participants played digital games, while one-fifth (97/456, 21.3%) played digital games daily using smartphones or tablets. Finally, most respondents (343/468, 73.3%), mainly women, expressed interest in obtaining nutritional information during digital gameplay. However, significant gender differences were shown for nutritional acquisition behaviors and digital gameplay preferences, motives, and behaviors.

Conclusions: Our survey population reported playing digital games (especially men) and wanting nutritional information during digital gameplay (especially women). Furthermore, university or workplace are named as preferred settings for nutritional information. Therefore, a digital game app might have the potential to be a tool for nutritional education among young adults within the university or workplace environment.

Keywords: behavior; digital gameplay; information sources; motives; nutrition; preferences; serious games; survey; university students.

©Sophie Laura Holzmann, Hanna Schäfer, David Alexander Plecher, Lynne Stecher, Gudrun Johanna Klinker, Georg Groh, Hans Hauner, Christina Holzapfel. Originally published in JMIR Serious Games (http://games.jmir.org), 03.06.2020.