Effects of a Gamified Educational Program in the Nutrition of Children with Obesity

Obesity is considered a global epidemic of the twenty-first century by the World Health Organization (WHO). Specifically, the Canary Islands has the highest level of this disease in Europe and 40% of children in Spain are overweight or obese. This increase is a direct result of changes in the lifestyles of the population and its nutrition. Because of this, we have designed an educational program based on motor games, active videogames and virtual learning environments to improve the long-term health of children. This article presents and analyzes the results of a study on the nutritional knowledge and adherence to the Mediterranean diet of 46 obese children aged 6 to 12 years in the Canary Islands who participated in an educational program. The study design was quasi-experimental, with two groups (experimental and control). A long-term longitudinal study (3 years) was carried out. A set of evaluation instruments was used for the different phases. The results show significant improvements between the experimental and control groups in terms of their knowledge of healthy nutrition and their adherence to the Mediterranean diet. As a main conclusion, we emphasize that a gamified educational intervention program supported by ICT helps to motivate and promote improvements in the nutrition of children.