New Rochelle, NY, October 22, 2018—Board games can engage patients in play and fantasy, and by enabling face-to-face interaction, can help educate patients on health-related knowledge and behaviors. A new systemic review and meta-analysis of trials assessing the outcomes achieved using board games in children through older adults is published in Games for Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. Click here to read the full-text article free on the Games for Health Journal website through November 22, 2018.

Andrea Gauthier, University of Toronto (Mississauga, Canada), Pamela Kato, Kim Bul, Ian Dunwell, and Petros Lameras, Coventry University (Coventry, U.K.), and Aimee Walker-Clarke, University of Warwick (Coventry, U.K.) coauthored the article entitled “Board Games for Health: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis.” The article evaluated 21 studies of non-digital board games, the majority of which used education to increase health-related knowledge and behaviors.

The goal of the systemic review and meta-analysis was to answer two main questions: what kinds of board games targeting medical and health-related outcomes have been evaluated in the literature; and what has been the overall impact of the board games on health-related outcomes?

"While most attention has been given to video games for health, board games can reach large numbers of people and have been generally well received, but have they had the desired effects? Gauthier and colleagues’ meta-analysis revealed promising results. Board games may provide a lower cost, widely disseminable method for delivering the benefits of games for health," says Tom Baranowski, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Games for Health Journal, from USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center, and Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.

About the Journal

Games for Health Journal breaks new ground as the first journal to address this emerging and increasingly important area of health care. The Journal provides a bimonthly forum in print and online for academic and clinical researchers, game designers and developers, health care providers, insurers, and information technology leaders. Articles explore the use of game technology in a variety of clinical applications. These include disease prevention and monitoring, nutrition, weight management, and medication adherence. Gaming can play an important role in the care of patients with diabetes, post-traumatic stress disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, and cognitive, mental, emotional, and behavioral health disorders.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking and Telemedicine and e-Health. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available online at the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.

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