Technology Based Obesity Prevention Project (TeBOPP)

Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in recent years and has become the number
one challenge among child healthcare providers in the United States. Unhealthy dietary habits
and lack of physical activity are among the key factors attributed to increase in overweight
and obesity rates among children and adolescents. Obesity is associated with a much higher
risk for chronic medical conditions and increasingly diseases among the old like diabetes is
becoming commonplace among the young. This growing epidemic may prove to have a tremendous
societal impact and may prove to be a colossal economic and health burden in the future if it
is not confronted aggressively at this stage. Unfortunately the obesity epidemic has affected
the minority and socio economically deprived population in a disproportionate manner. Inner
city Latino children and adolescents are being increasingly affected and targeted
intervention for this population group is of paramount importance.

In this project, we intend to study the role of an immersive video game technology using
simulated game-based avatars to educate parents and children simultaneously about the
importance of healthy diet and exercise, assess knowledge gained and retention and their
change in attitudes towards adoption of a healthier lifestyle.

Such an innovative educational model deployed using a bilingual (English/Spanish) videogame
format which is a natural draw for this age group will likely capture their attention and be
successful in conveying the intended message encouraging adoption of healthy diet and
exercise. By encouraging parental participation, knowledge gained is expected to be shared
and encourage parent-child discussion thereby fostering a team effort to combat obesity and
promote a healthy lifestyle in the family as a whole.

The intervention will be specifically tailored to its target population for better
acceptance. Our patient population primarily comprises of Mexican-American children and
families and issues relating over weight and obesity are most problematic in this population
group. A Needs Assessment Survey will be conducted at the start of the project and
socio-cultural attributes impacting diet and exercise habits will be assessed. This
information will be used to address these specific issues in the game design. If this
culturally and linguistically responsive obesity prevention educational intervention for
Latino children and families proves a success, future research will focus on making the
application easily downloadable on to a mobile internet device for dissemination to a much
larger audience. Since the proposed intervention is based on the concepts of cognitive
behavior therapy, opportunities for repeat play is likely to reinforce knowledge gain and
encourage a positive health behavior change.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Patients of Latino ethnicity, 8 to 15 years of age who register in the pediatric ED
and patients who visit the three FLCs and are accompanied by a parent/guardian who is
18 years or older and able to communicate in English or Spanish

- A patient must receive an Emergency Severity Index (ESI) Version 3 score of 4/5
indicating non-urgent status for recruitment in the pediatric ED.

Exclusion Criteria:

- Medically unstable patients (in the pediatric ED), patients with ESI score of 1-3
(life threatening medical/surgical condition).

- Incarcerated patients or patients from juvenile detention facilities.