Lourdes Morales: Motivating Adolescents to be Physically Active Using a Mobile Game
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 morales_surfit10_poster.pdf | 1.05 MB |
| morales_surfit10_report.pdf | 534.26 KB |
Student: Lourdes M. Morales,
Graduate Advisor: Sonia M. Arteaga
Research Advisor: Sri Kurniawan
Home University: University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras
Motivating Adolescents to be Physically Active Using a Mobile Game
Results from the 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, indicate that an estimated 17% of adolescents aged 12-19 are obese. Obese adolescents are at risk for serious health problems during their youth and as adults. Physical activity is tightly related to lower obesity rates in youth, but it declines precipitously during early adolescence. New approaches are needed to address the problem of lack of physical activity in adolescents.
We explore the use of a game that requires walking as the input mechanism to increase physical activity in teenagers. Approaching our design on a mobile platform, i.e. the iPhone Operating System (available on the iPhone and iPod Touch), has the advantage of providing the flexibility for the user to take this application with them and use it wherever and whenever they choose. In addition, we believe games will motivate teenagers to increase physical activity because they will make the experience fun. This belief is based on several theoretical models on motivators for adolescents and behavior adoption, i.e. Theory of Meaning Behavior and Theory of Planned Behavior.
In this research, Lourdes Morales, a senior Computer Science major with a minor in Mathematics from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, worked with Research Advisor Prof. Sri Kurniawan and Graduate Advisor Sonia M. Arteaga. Lourdes designed a scavenger hunt game in which the user has to walk a certain distance before being presented with a picture. In this picture the user is asked to search for objects starting with a specific letters. The complexity and distance increases with each level in the game. After running a focus group session on the game, we found that most teenagers said they would play this game individually or to entertain themselves on long walking distances. However, they also stated that the greater the challenge the more they would enjoy the game.
