PROVITAO: a research program based on active games for help the abulatory treatment of childhood obesity

Abstract

Childhood obesity is the most prevalent chronic disease in developed and developing countries. Recent studies showed that the Canary Islands are the Spanish region with the highest rate of childhood obesity. However, this disease is easy to prevent, educating children from healthy habits, and, the ICT in general and videogames in particular, represent an opportunity to work towards change. Therefore, this paper presents the design of an educational intervention program to help the ambulatory treatment of childhood obesity. This program is intended for children 8 to 12 years of age with obesity and who come for the first time to the Pediatric Service of the University Hospital of Canaries, and is currently being validated. The partial results show that the satisfaction of the minors with the program is high, emphasizing the focus in games.