Exploring the Impact of a Persuasive Serious Video Game (Farmily) on Promoting Home Gardening Among Novices: Design and Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Home gardens worldwide provide sustenance, economic support, and access to fresh produce and promote household well-being, health, self-sufficiency, and food security. However, they face significant challenges worldwide and necessitate innovative promotion approaches. Serious video games have proven effective in promoting agricultural knowledge.

Embodied Conversational Agents Providing Motivational Interviewing to Improve Health-Related Behaviors: Scoping Review.

Background: Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) are advanced human-like interfaces that engage users in natural face-to-face conversations and interactions. These traits position ECAs as innovative tools for delivering interventions for promoting health-related behavior adoption. This includes motivational interviewing (MI), a therapeutic approach that combines brief interventions with motivational techniques to encourage the adoption of healthier behaviors.

Machine Learning-Based Sensor Data Fusion for Animal Monitoring: Scoping Review.

The development of technology, such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, has significantly advanced many fields of study. Animal research is no exception, as these technologies have enabled data collection through various sensing devices. Advanced computer systems equipped with artificial intelligence capabilities can process these data, allowing researchers to identify significant behaviors related to the detection of illnesses, discerning the emotional state of the animals, and even recognizing individual animal identities.

Parents' mHealth App for Promoting Healthy Eating Behaviors in Children: Feasibility, Acceptability, and Pilot Study.

The use of mobile health apps to improve diet and nutrition behaviors has increased in recent years. Several studies have described the benefits and advantages of this technology as a complement to interventions for improving nutrition behaviors and nutrition-related health outcomes, including obesity indices and clinical parameters. Few of these works have developed clinical mobile health apps for children, and although parents play a critical role in children's nutrition behaviors, work targeting parents is scarce.

Serious Games Supporting the Prevention and Treatment of Alcohol and Drug Consumption in Youth: Scoping Review.

Background: The consumption of alcohol and drugs, particularly in adolescents and young adults, has increased worldwide in the last several years, representing a significant public health challenge. Serious games have the potential to support preventive and treatment interventions for substance use, facilitating the acquisition of relevant knowledge and the motivation for changes in attitudes and behaviors regarding substance consumption.

Objective: This scoping review aims to analyze a set of 7 relevant characteristics of current serious games designed to support the prevention and treatment of alcohol and drug consumption in adolescents and young adults-the substance addressed, the type of intervention, the theoretical basis, the computational techniques used, the mechanism for data security and privacy, the evaluation procedure followed, and the main results obtained.

HelperFriend, a Serious Game for Promoting Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors in Children: Design and Pilot Study.

Background: The use of health games is a promising strategy for educating and promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors among children.

Objective: We aimed to describe the design and development of a serious game, called HelperFriend, and evaluate its feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects in children in a pilot study. HelperFriend is a vicarious experiential video game designed to promote 3 lifestyle behaviors among young children: physical activity, healthy eating, and socioemotional wellness.

Relationship Between Children's Enjoyment, User Experience Satisfaction, and Learning in a Serious Video Game for Nutrition Education: Empirical Pilot Study.

Background: The design and use of serious video games for children have increased in recent years. To maximize the effects of these games, it is essential to understand the children's experiences through playing. Previous studies identified that enjoyment and user experience satisfaction of the players are principal factors that can influence the success of serious video games and the learning of their players.

Nutritional Education and Promotion of Healthy Eating Behaviors Among Mexican Children Through Video Games: Design and Pilot Test of FoodRateMaster.

Background: Childhood obesity has risen dramatically in recent decades, reaching epidemic levels. Children need guidance on and support for maintaining a healthy diet and physical activity to ensure that they grow appropriately and develop healthy eating habits. Serious video games have shown positive effects on promoting the nutritional knowledge, and eating attitudes and behaviors of children; however, research about the usefulness of such games with younger children (8-10 years old) is sparse.