Loss Aversion Explains Physical Activity Changes in a Behavioral Gamification Trial.

Loss aversion when using gamification is incompletely understood. The aim of this study was therefore to examine how participants alter their behavior vis-a-vis meeting a daily step goal based on the prospect of losing or gaining a gamification level. We enrolled 602 participants across four arms who were given pedometers.

Association between behavioral phenotypes and response to a physical activity intervention using gamification and social incentives: Secondary analysis of the STEP UP randomized clinical trial.

Participants often vary in their response to behavioral interventions, but methods to identify groups of participants that are more likely to respond are lacking. In this secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial, we used baseline characteristics to group participants into distinct behavioral phenotypes and evaluated differential responses to a physical activity intervention. Latent class analysis was used to segment participants based on baseline participant data including demographics, validated measures of psychosocial variables, and physical activity behavior.

Effectiveness of Behaviorally Designed Gamification Interventions With Social Incentives for Increasing Physical Activity Among Overweight and Obese Adults Across the United States: The STEP UP Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Gamification, the use of game design elements in nongame contexts, is increasingly being used in workplace wellness programs and digital health applications. However, the best way to design social incentives in gamification interventions has not been well examined.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of support, collaboration, and competition within a behaviorally designed gamification intervention to increase physical activity among overweight and obese adults.

Social incentives to encourage physical activity and understand predictors (STEP UP): Design and rationale of a randomized trial among overweight and obese adults across the United States.

Background: Less than half of adults in the United States (US) obtain the recommended level of physical activity. Social incentives, the influences that impact individuals to adjust their behaviors based on social ties or connections, are ubiquitous and could be leveraged within gamification interventions to provide a scalable, low-cost approach to increase engagement. Gamification, or the use of game design in non-game situations, is commonly used in the real world, but in most cases has not appropriately leveraged principles from theories of health behavior.

Chronic cheek lesions: an unusual manifestation of nontuberculous mycobacterial cevicofacial infection.

The characteristics of nontuberculous mycobacteria cheek lesions in 7 children were reviewed. The lesions usually presented as nontender erythematous nodules and were associated with a positive purified protein derivate tuberculin skin test. Mycobacterium haemophilum was isolated in 4 cases (57%) and Mycobacterium avium complex in 3 (43%).

Effectiveness of nonpharmacologic treatment for migraine in young children.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of nonpharmacologic treatment for migraine in children younger than age 6 years.

Background: The mean age of onset of migraine in children is 7.2 years for boys and 10.