Mobile Device Use Among Rural, Low-Income Families and the Feasibility of an App to Encourage Preschoolers' Physical Activity: Qualitative Study.

Background: As mobile devices are becoming ubiquitous, technology-based interventions provide a promising strategy to positively influence health behaviors of families with young children. However, questions remain about the feasibility and acceptability of intervention delivery via mobile apps in low-income, rural settings and among families with preschoolers.

Objective: The aims of this study were to understand the content and context of mobile device use for preschoolers; explore parent beliefs on this topic, including the acceptability of intervention delivery via mobile devices; and test a prototype of an app to encourage preschoolers' physical activity with both parents and children.

HEROs: Design of a Mixed-Methods Formative Research Phase for an Ecocultural Intervention to Promote Healthy Eating and Activity Behaviors in Rural Families With Preschoolers.

Objective: To describe the mixed-methods formative research phase in the development of the Healthy Environments Study (HEROs), a technology-based, interactive family intervention to promote healthy eating and activity behaviors for young children in the home environment.

Design: A mixed-method iterative approach, using ecocultural theory as a framework, will guide the development of both quantitative and qualitative formative research assessments.

Setting: Rural eastern Colorado.

Parent Perceptions of Mobile Device Use Among Preschool-Aged Children in Rural Head Start Centers.

Objective: To describe child use and parents' beliefs and comfort with young children's use of mobile devices in low-income, rural communities.

Methods: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study. The survey, which consisted of 18 multiple-part questions, was distributed to families at 5 Head Start/preschool centers in Colorado.

Levels in Games for Health.

There is a time-honored procedure in games for pure entertainment wherein games challenge their players by offering successfully higher levels of difficulty. An eminent researcher proposed that player engagement and enjoyment require the player being constantly challenged, but at a level she or he can handle. A game's difficulty levels enable the player to face more difficult challenges as she or he builds gameplaying skills.

The power of play: Innovations in Getting Active Summit 2011: a science panel proceedings report from the American Heart Association.

Background: To examine the influence active-play video gaming (also referred to as exergaming, exertainment, and active gaming) might have on improving health-related skills, enhancing self-esteem and self-efficacy, promoting social support, and ultimately motivating positive changes in health behaviors, the American Heart Association convened The Power of Play: Innovations in Getting Active Summit. The summit, as well as a follow-up science panel, was hosted by the American Heart Association and Nintendo of America.

Methods And Results: The science panel discussed the current state of research on active-play video gaming and its potential to serve as a gateway experience that might motivate players to increase the amount and intensity of physical activity in their daily lives.