Health Educational Games and Their Effectiveness Among Children

Abstract

After the release of the health educational games, Bronkie the Bronchiasaurus and Packy and Marlon in 1995, the production of health educational games for children started to increase. Over the past couple of decades, health educational video games on the topics of Asthma, Cancer, Diabetes and Risk Prevention, have been proven to be an effective form of learning for children. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of these health education games among children. For this study, search engines such as Google, Bing, and Google Scholar were used to find health educational games on the topics of Asthma, Cancer, Diabetes, and Risk Prevention. In order to produce the best results, several searches were conducted using a series of keyword identifiers. Keyword searches were completed to discover content in the areas of frequency of use, effectiveness, and evidence-based outcomes from these games. To date, twenty-three health educational games were found. Out of twenty-three games, twenty-one were successful in their reported effectiveness. Our research also shows that some hospitals around the United States have started to incorporate these games into their patients’ regimen because of the degree of success reported.