Future of Health: Gaming For Health

This post is part of a PSFK Consulting project aimed at providing insight into the Future of Health. Gaming For Health is one trend of fifteen that appears in our exploration of  how technology and access to information play a vital role in the ways that people will understand, manage and receive care whether that’s at home, in hospitals and clinics or in doctor’s offices.

Summary

In an effort to motivate individuals to make smarter decisions about their health, services are being developed that provide incentives alongside activities such as fitness, diet and disease management. By introducing game mechanics into areas of life that people are already engaged in, designers are helping both influence and reinforce positive behaviors. This feedback loop not only encourages healthier choices, but also enables people to better understand their individual health.

Impliations

• Learn Through Play – Increase participation and reinforce healthy habits through entertainment instead of information.
• Streamlining Healthcare – Decreased need to monitor and remind patients of activities in which they should be engaging.
• Easy Implementation – Reward mechanics are more intuitive for everyday individuals than complex health-related processes, providing feedback and incentives that immediately make sense.
• Positive Feedback – Influencing action through positive feedback provides additional motivation to continue specific behaviors.

Supporting Examples for Gaming For Health

Receiving Real Rewards For Fitness
Switch2Health (S2H) is a simple, wearable technology that keeps track of an individual’s fitness achievements and provides incentives through a scalable platform that rewards healthy behavior when a certain fitness level has been reached. the device presents a simple code to reward positive behavior that users can submit at the S2H website. the accumulated points can be redeemed for various promotions and prizes. Users can also access personal health statistics on the site.

Project Gathers Statistics, Incentivizes Participation
The Broccoli Project uses state-of-the-art biometric technology at screening facilities to scan the fingertips of poor africans, adding their profiles to a health database that Npos and NGos can tap into to create more efficient programs. This enables donor organizations to more accurately report statistics, and reduces the chances of retesting and document duplication. the Broccoli project rewards its participants with food vouchers, clothing or building materials.

Blood Glucose Monitor Rewards Users For Checking Their Levels
Bayer is introducing a blood glucose meter named the Didget that connects to the Nintendo DS mobile gaming system. every time a gamer plugs the Didget into their Nintendo DS to check glucose levels, the system gives rewards like virtual currency to buy items and access new skills within associated games. Bayer aims to educate kids about managing their blood glucose levels and reinforce regular testing behaviors through the gaming platform.

Social Competition Provides Extra Motivation
Several popular platforms such as Nike+, adidas’ miCoach and Abvio’s RunMeter app for the iphone are attempting to provide an extra level of motivation to those that exercise alone. the various programs connect friends and allow them to participate in friendly physical competitions. these services also allow users to log basic metrics including distance, speed and route, enabling them to easily track their progress over time.

Health Clubs Combine Fitness With Video Games
In an effort to add additional components of fun and competition to physical fitness, two health clubs have combined the worlds of exercise and video games. In Motion, a Dubai-based company whose products and services are aimed at children aged 7-17, integrates “exergaming” with an educational curriculum to promote healthier lifestyles. With multiple locations across the US, XrKade offers users real workouts while playing arcade-style games that involve dancing, biking, skateboarding, kickboxing and even rock climbing.

Framing Medicine regiments As Games
Movipill is a mobile phone based gaming application trialed by researchers at telefonica I+D in Spain that encourages patients to take their medications at prescribed times. The trial, which featured 18 participants, used a point system to reward and reprimand behaviors; points were awarded or deducted based on how close to the prescribed time users took their medication. Leaders were visible on a communal scoreboard and winners were awarded at the end of each week.

About PSFK’s Future Of Health Report

PSFK’s Future of Health Report details 15 trends that will impact health and wellness around the world. Simple advances such as off-the-grid energy and the introduction of gaming into healthcare service offerings sit alongside more future-forward developments such as bio-medical printing. The report includes concepts for UNICEF based on the trends provided by the world’s leading advertising and design agencies. It is our hope that this report will inspire your thinking and lead to services, applications and technologies which will allow for more available, quality healthcare.

www.psfk.com/future-of-health