Games for Health 2010
Content Wave #1

The following content offers a sample of the research, case studies, and lectures, that will be present at the 2010 Games for Health Conference.

The sessions described below do not include any of the content from three of our main tracks which are still under development.  We will soon be announcing our nearly full slate of sessions including content for our Active & Exergaming Track, our first ever Rehab & PT Track, and our Cognitive Health with Games Track powered by SharpBrains.  The debut of these sessions, and many other surprises are in store for this year's event.  

All times, and some speakers are still To Be Announced (TBA) below.  If you have any questions about these or other sessions please contact Ben Sawyer @ bsawyer@gamesforhealth.org


Larger then Life: A Behavior Change Game for HIV Prevention
Lynn Sullivan, Yale University

In 2009 Yale University was awarded a multi-million dollar grant to build and test a videogame aimed at helping at-risk youth understand and avoid the risks associated with HIV infection.  In 2010 a multi-disiciplinary team has been assembled and will use the latest evidence-based practices, theoretical constructs, and best-practice game design techniques to build the game.  In this session, project PI Lynn Sullivan will detail the project to date, share insights from her substantial pre-production process, and reveal the overall design approach the team has developed including project plans, the game design, assessment tools, and more.

What Kids Get Out of Video Games : The Presence of Games in Healthy Child Development
Cheryl K. Olson

This presentation blends lessons from Dr. Olson’s research on middle-school youth, and recent studies on healthy child development—offering game developers and parents a new way of looking at children and electronic games.

 Topics include:


This presentation will give you insights into the role electronic games play in children’s lives, and ways to encourage positives and minimize negatives.

Autism & Games Panel
Russell Shilling, Moderator

Autism is a spectrum disorder affecting as many as 1 out of 150 people worldwide each year.  As researchers and parents begin to understand the condition more-and-more there have been a number of game-related efforts aimed at assisting those affected by autism, their family, friends, and caregivers.  This panel is an attempt to collect as many of those project efforts and research findings as possible.  It is not only meant to provide a strong point of information gathering and dissemination featuring experts in the field but more importantly, it's a rallying cry, for all of those interested in how videogames, and videogame technologies can help in the field of autism to gather and find ways to move forward with increase collaboration and effectiveness.

Exergame away the Pain : Exergame Technology to Improve Physical Activity, Functional Mobility and Pain among African American and non-Hispanic White Women with Knee Osteoarthritis

Bridgett Rahim-Williams, PhD, MPH, MA, Kemar Mapp, BA, Rida Laeeq and William Parker Hinson, BS, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL


This session covers the design and results of a pilot study to test the efficacy and utility of a health game (e.g. exergame cycling) to reduce pain sensitivity and increase physical activity and functional mobility among African American and non-Hispanic White women ages 50-70 with knee osteroathritis. Exercise has been found to be an effective intervention in osteoarthritis; a debilitating joint condition where pain is an important symptom. Whether innovative health game technology versus standard exercise can be used to improve physical activity and functional mobility thereby reducing disability among women with knee OA has not been evaluated. Measures include exergame cycling using PlayStation game equipment, standard cycling without game technology, mechanical pressure pain stimuli, pain ratings, readings of blood pressure, heart rate, distance pedaled, time cycling and psychosocial questionnaires. 


We hypothesize that novel interventions such as health games (e.g. exergame cycling) will facilitate increased physical activity, functional mobility and decreased report of pain compared to standard measures of physical activity (e.g. stationary cycling without game technology) among the women. Empirical support for the hypotheses of the pilot study will afford important information regarding the efficacy and utility of novel health games interventions to improve health outcomes such as increased physical activity, functional mobility and decreased pain with implications for reducing adverse effects of chronic disease disability among women with knee osteoarthritis.


Global Health & Games Panel
Panelists TBA

The goal of this panel is to begin both a discussion and assessment of the role of videogames in improving global health in general and global health initiatives specifically.  When thinking on a global scale games for health take on different characteristics then they do on a national or individual basis.  Gone is the idea of expensive consoles in favor of lower cost cell phones and platforms like One Laptop Per Child, or PlayPower.  More important are epidemics that may not be as familiar in more developed countries like malaria.  At the same time we must think of games as being even more secondary to other forms of frontline interventions when considering allocation of resources in the global health arena.  

This panel of game developers and global health experts will grapple with defining what in global health may fit well with games, and what forms and partnerships these game projects might take in terms of platform, distribution, and design.  The result, we hope, is a better sense of community opportunities for games in the global health arena with a strong dose of reality in terms of what will make a true difference.  The panel will kick off with a small assessment of the work in this area that's been done or proposed thus far.

Foldit : Status and Future of Scientific Discovery Games in Biochemistry and Medicine 
Zoran Popovic
University of Washington, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering

In 2008 the University of Washington debuted Foldit (www.fold.it) an ambitious attempt to create a massively-multiplayer game that predicts protein structures.  Now team member Zoran Popovic returns to Games for Health to provide findings brought by the Foldit evolution over the past 2 years.  Going beyond his review, Popovic will reveal new details about the future of scientific discovery games and its applications ranging from discovering novel biofuels to vaccine and drug design

A Wii Game for Laporascopic Surgery
Grendel Games
Tim Laning

Can off-the-shelf technology, expertly programmed provide a great new environment for training doctors, and motivating young people?  While there have been several presentations and projects looking at how off-the-shelf games can potentially help doctors practice skills, warm up, and generally prepare for surgery, there has never been anything quite like this!  Come see perhaps the most amazing Wii surgery game built to date, see its unique Wiimote compatible controllers, hear how the project came to be, and where it and its business-plan are going next.

Dreams and Video Game Play
Jayne Gackenbach
Grant MacEwan University

The science of dreams has progressed beyond Freud’s original speculations. It has been shown that dreams are the phenomenological experience of information processing, especially memory consolidation and integration, and for emotional regulation. In a series of studies Gackenbach and colleagues have been investigating the relationship between video game play and dreams. Three lines of inquiry have been pursued, cognitive factors, emotional content and bizarreness in dreams associated with video game play. The question across studies being, does hard core video game play change these fundamental qualities of dreams in the player, and thus, by implication, in the ways in which players process cognitive and emotional information?

Specifically this researcher has identified a positive relationship between video game play and lucid/control dreaming. This lab also found more dreamed aggression but less misfortune resulting in fewer nightmares or unique responses to nightmares. Finally, gamers dreams are more bizarre, which may not reduce to odd game content, but to an association with creativity.

Energy Expenditure with Exergaming; is it enough to make a difference?

Bryan Haddock

California State University, San Bernardino


The prevalence of Overweight and Obesity has increased dramatically in recent years. This is especially a concern in children. Recent data from the CDC suggest that 3.3% of children aged 6-11 are overweight and 17% are obese. Frequent television viewing and the playing of video games has often been linked to this increased obesity prevalence. Exercise and the avoidance of “screen time” are often suggested as a way to help decrease obesity in both children and adults. It is not debatable that exercise will have several physiological benefits to those who participate. One thing that is still debated is how much exercise will be obtained by individuals who play video games that require movement in order to play (“exergames”). 


There have been several studies over the last several years that have examined the level of energy expenditure while playing a variety of games. Dance Dance Revolution has been studied the most; however several other games have also been studied. This presentation reviews and summarize the published research up to this point, and classify the games that have been studied for their level of energy expenditure.


The research done in our lab has been conducted in a different way than most of the published research. We decided that we wanted to see what level of energy expenditure would be achieved while playing exergames when the participants were given free choice as to which games they would play and how long they would play each individual game. Some of this research has been done on children, some on adults. The data will also be separated to show the choice of games played and the level of energy expenditure varies when the participant is overweight or normal weight. To date a variety of games have been tested. These games include: Xavix Jackie Chan Fitness Studio, Wii Sports, Wii Sports Active, Gold’s Gym, and Your Shape. 


In addition, this presentation will summarize some of the other research that has been done in our lab with the use of exergames as a potential mode of exercise.


Attack of the S. Mutans! Fighting Tooth Decay with a Stereo 3D Multiplayer Adventure Game
Howard Rose
Firsthand Technology Inc.
 
Firsthand Technology received funding from NIH to create and test a computer game-based intervention for improving oral health self-care behavior in kids. Firsthand has developed Attack of the S. Mutans!, a stereo 3D multi-player adventure game that is the centerpiece of a traveling exhibit for science centers featuring 5 other virtual experiences. The game engages kids in a fight against bacteria and biofilms that are the causes of tooth decay. Firsthand's prior work includes SnowWorld for pain control and VR therapy for post-traumatic stress. 

Tetris Bikes and Mobile Scavenger Hunts:  : Designing a Games for Health Course in an Interdisciplinary Classroom
Katie Siek
University of Colorado

What would a semester long course in creating games for health look like?  How would the course differ for 1st year undergraduates and graduate students? Do all students need programming experience? In this interactive presentation, Dr. Siek discusses the motivations, design, and implementation of a semester long course where students grappled with the goals of combining theory, game development, and health.  The presentation will cover course structure, schedule, instructional design, and examples of great student work from two course iterations.  Attendees will not only see the end result work, but can gain insight on how to launch similar courses in their own programs.

Surge World
Gary Stairs
Red Hot Learning

SurgeWorld is a strategy game that simulates a hospital environment in the aftermath of a catastrophic disaster situation, such as an earthquake. It was commissioned by the Childrens’ Hospital of Los Angeles, which needed a way to train physicians, nurses, and other emergency department staff in how to prepare and respond to a patient surge after a disaster, but had no practical way of replicating the chaos that would ensue.  This session covers a demo and case study of the project.


SurgeWorld is mission driven. Players have to deal with a rapid influx of patients, with varying and random injuries. Deciding who to treat first, what treatment to give, and how to assign valuable resources becomes a race against time as patients enter the hospital. Players are scored on mission outcomes and how well their choices relate to medical best practices. Leader boards enable players to compare their scores to other players in the same hospital


A Case Study of Integrating Games into a School Based Community Health Center

Sarah Wessler

Harlem Children’s Health Project

 

The Neuberger Berman Health Promotion Learning Lab (HPLL) is a unique health education resource operating in conjunction with the Harlem Children’s Health Project (HCHP) a School-Based Health Center located in the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) Promise Academy Charter School in New York, NY.  The HPLL is a unique facility that incorporates field-tested interactive hands-on health education models into the clinical services of the HCHP and the larger HCZ Community. 


In this session, Sarah Wessler, Program Manager for the HPLL will outline workshop models, interactive curriculum and game technology resources that have been implemented into the HCHP including exergames and other games for health.  Detailed descriptions and images of the HPLL will be provided as well as information on how to replicate workshop education models, curriculum and innovative health education resources in your own community.


With its state-of-the-art interactive health education model of audio-visual systems, mobile devices and workshop-based curriculum, the HPLL expands the scope of the Harlem Children’s Health Project  into a facility that aims to empower young people to take control of their personal health and become advocates for a safer and healthier neighborhood, community, and planet.  


Based on the needs of the medically underserved Harlem community, the HPLL utilizes several open source health games and websites to address topics including: nutrition, oral health, anatomy and physiology, hygiene, asthma, and reproductive health. Student interns, or Explainers, assist with modes of education, evaluate and research games, teach lessons, and act as peer mentors for visiting students.   The HPLL is an ideal model for replication in a variety of settings including school-based health centers, community-based health centers, and children’s hospitals.


Exergames Unlocked: Case Studies of Unique & Successful Community Based Use of Exergames

Speaker TBA

New Mexico State University


Home to the exergamesunlocked.org website, NMSU has been investigating the impacts and best practices of using active games. Mini-grant recipients include an elementary school physical education teacher with limited facilities, an after school program leader in an elementary school on the New Mexico/Texas/Mexico border, an extra-curricular program for kids with Downs' Syndrome, a program director at a senior's residence center, an after school program for at-risk kids, a community initiative at a laundromat and a family-oriented exergames olympics program. Each of these projects have specific lessons learned and strategies for successful use. 


NMSU researchers communicate with recipients regularly and have structured case studies to share on the exergamesunlocked website. They will summarize findings with specific recommendations on using exergames in programs.


The Fever for Flu Games
Speaker TBA

In 2009 as the Swine Flu pandemic began to grip the world both as it spread and as more and more media attention grew a number of game projects were launched or move to the front burner that concerned the topic.  Some were very specifically commissioned to help with public response.  Some were not.  A bunch were played, including many titles about flu and viral outbreaks that were little more then games that spoke to the theme of flu and not much else.  Almost all, as a group, were uniformly poor - even the ones meant to help.  

Why was this?  Was it merely that poor designs were constructed?  What lessons can be gleamed by the gap between games as a useful tool for public response and the fact that they played not much of a major role in them and in some cases may have done more harm then good?  This session provides not only a recap of all the known flu games that were built since early 2009 but also a critique and series of recommendation how the worlds of public health, and gaming could be better prepared and play a much more successful role when there is another viral epidemic, pandemic, or other health emergency where wide swaths of the public need information, training, and assistance to prepare and deal with the event.

Examining Active Gaming Theories and Practices Among 3rd - 5th Graders

Lisa Hansen

University of South Florida


As technology and sedentary lifestyles have become an integral part of children's lives, so too has the prevalence of childhood obesity. Although video games are often associated with influencing sedentary behaviors, active gaming is a modern genre that requires children to become physically active while playing the games. Active gaming’s reputation is partly founded on the concept of making exercise more fun and appealing in order to encourage participants to voluntarily want to participate in the activities. When intrinsic motivation is the foundation for participating in an activity, research suggests individuals experience Flow or are “in the zone” as defined by Csikszentmihalyi. When flow experiences occur, the individual has no extrinsic desires.


This session will discuss two small research efforts that looked at theories and practices putting exergaming to use in grade school classrooms in Florida.  First, a qualitative inquiry exploring fifth grades students’ experiences participating in active gaming during physical education classes. Analysis of data revealed students have a “Persistence to Game” (P2G) when participating in active gaming during physical education. Persistence to game includes eight elements. Although not all elements need to be present at the same time, when these elements interact, students experience flow. In P2G, the flow zone suggested by Csikszentmihalyi is modified by demonstrating a smaller portion of time spent in anxious or bored behavior. The discoveries of this study suggest active gaming can be an appropriate tool used in the 21st century to promote healthy physical activity experiences.


A second effort looked at the use of FootPOWR pads and FootGaming as a genre of active gaming in which participants’ feet control on-screen actions by using a pad on the floor as the mouse or select keyboard input. Participants can play computer games using their feet while simultaneously gaining physically active experiences. Discussed will be research conducted with elementary students using FootGaming while participating in a “healthy” learning project that integrated physical activity and nutrition related principles in the academic classroom. An additional purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of the teachers and students while participating in FootGaming in a collaborative team project that incorporated technology-delivered health and wellness concepts.


Games & Accessibility 
Mark Barlet
Ablegamers.com

Videogame accessibility is about the notion that everyone should be able to play games and much more.  Whether it's ensuring people with disabilities can play their favorite titles, or using games to help someone with a specific lifelong, chronic, or temporary physical or cognitive disability we can do better at making games accessible.  The best games don't look at accessibility as a burden or a special needs case, the best games like the AbleGamer's awarded Dragon Age see great accessibility features as making their game better for everyone.  The Games for Health Conference has several elements to its overall event dedicated to looking at all the intersections, research, and work that is improving the practice and impact of accessibility and games for accessibility.  This session is a great introduction to people new to the field of videogames and to accessibility in videogames.  It not only provides a basic introduction but offers a chance to recap all of the accessibility work and outcomes from the Games Accessibility Day event held on during the pre-conference emerging markets and communities day on May 25.

Game Related Illnesses & Injuries : The accused, documented, and related : An Update
Alan Au
University of Washington

This is one of several perennial talks we offer that see updates every year.  Ever since the first major arcade games rolled out there have been videogame related injuries and illnesses. From photo-volitilic siezers to people hurting themselves with active gaming you can't spare videogames from being at the cause of a variety of interesting injury and illness outcomes. However, just because we know such things exist doesn't mean we have a good grasp on them - or even a good stab at a complete documented list.


The goal of this session is simple - to present a catalog of both evidence based documentation of game-related injuries and illnesses and those reported on but not necessarily documented perfectly. Furthermore, this session also will look at rhetorical claims of injuries and "injury epidemics" that have also been part of the record of this subject if not always the reality.

Attendees to this session will leave with a better understanding of game related injuries and illnesses and how they might manifest themselves not only in the normal course of events but potentially as side-effects to exposure to games in health or health research settings.


Games About Health : An Update
Ben Sawyer
Games for Health Project

This perennial talk starts where past talks have left off looking at how commercial games from the last 2-3 years have handled health themes and content.  By looking at such games we hope to get some insight as the future possibilities of games for health while also assessing the possible health information that people are getting from off-the-shelf games.  This talk has, in the past, focused on such games from an arc of 20+ years of gaming history.  Instead a handout of that earlier work will be given to each attendee allowing for time to be focused on the games of recent years.  If you are interested in seeing how modern day commercial games are evolving their presentation and game play around health & health care this is a session not worth missing.

Exploring the Concept of Healthy Gaming
Ben Sawyer
Games for Health Project

For all the discussion about games for health, that is, specific games aimed at improving people's health, or education about health, training, etc. we often don't stop to ask a bigger question of what constitutes "healthy gaming?".  Of course when one does many immediate issues like violence exposure and screen time come to the fore.  The problem is those issues, however heatedly debated, are not necessarily all that constitutes a notion of what "healthy gaming" might be as a large concept and framework for discussion about the role of games in our lives. 

In this talk, the co-founder of the Games for Health Project puts forward a passionate structure for what might truly constitute a series of recommended principles of healthy videogaming.  The talk is not meant as a doctrine for the public to follow, but is meant to spark further discussion and reflection on what is too often a binary worldwide discussion of good and bad as it relates to a limited sense of the problem.

Every Body Has a Brain
Karen Littman
Morphonix

This session will focus on lessons learned and techniques used developing Every Body Has a Brain, an interactive musical brain game and web site designed to increase interest in and knowledge about the brain among 4-6 year olds. It is the third in a series of award-winning neuroscience video games developed by Morphonix LLC and funded by grants from The National Institute of Mental Health's Small Business Innovation Research Program. 
 
Creating videogames for 4-6 year olds is challenging. Designers must remember to think like a kid in order to create engaging games. Many 4-6 year olds have never used a computer. Issues like navigation and how to word instructions to meet the developmental needs of the children must be addressed.

Participants will learn about Morphonix’ design process, which includes a group of 4-6 year old advisors. They’ll see parts of Every Body has a Brain, hear examples of original songs that introduce each learning objective, and see video footage of the design team in action.

Snacking & Gaming : What We Know So Far
Barbara Chamberlain
New Mexico State University

When you play videogames guess where you're hands are?  Not likely in the snack bowl.  At least that's the premise several people in the games for health community have put forward.  Other researchers have also posited that gamers may spend more time in front of screens BUT these are screens less likely to be deluging them with food marketing which could also be beneficial.  Does this mean that gamers are less likely to snack?  Or do gamers who gather to play together gorge themselves while others are commanding the on-screen action?  Is the marketing of high caloric foods and energy drinks aimed at gamers in both a psychographic and demographic form creating a generation of high-octane fueled play and poor eating? 

In this session members of the games for health community who've just begun asking deeper questions of the relationship between gaming and snacking are beginning to formulate some answers - or at least show that the possible linkages are not as cut & dry as conventional wisdom might think.  Come enjoy some health carrot sticks and water and see what we've found out and share with us ideas on where we can take these research questions next.

Off-The-Shelf Games Meets At-Home Child Development 
Randy Kulman

What constitutes healthy videogame play?  How do you reach out to kids who like videogames as a child development professional and use videogames as a critical tool for understanding the child and shaping their development?  Today's digitally oriented children spend an increasing amount of time with video games and other popular digital technologies. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation study indicates that 8-18-year-olds devote an average of 7 hours 38 minutes to using entertainment media in a typical day. Much of this time is devoted to using popular video games and other digital technologies. We need to learn how to harness this enormous commitment of time and energy for children's growth and development.

This talk focuses on a variety of small pilot studies undertaken to help shape strategies for engaging children with popular, commercial, off-the-shelf video games and other digital technologies they choose to play with.  We examine how these games can be helpful in developing these critical thinking and problem solving skills in a population of children with mild attention and learning difficulties.

Many popular video games and digital technologies require the practice and mastery of executive functions such as organization, planning, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and metacognition.  However, current data suggest limited transfer of game-based skills to the real world.  Perhaps some of this is because we don't have strategies as parents, teachers, and child development specialists to help here?  We examine experiences with children and games like World of Goo and RockBand and the approaches we take to help turn gameplay with such titles into positive development time for kids. The presentation will conclude by providing guidelines for selecting games to improve executive skills and the development of strategies that improve the generalization from game-based skills to the real world.  In addition, we will touch on strategies that game publishers can use to improve existing games and make them more digitally-nutritious for children.

Code Orange 2: A National Incident Management System (NIMS) mass casualty game
William T. Becker
SiTEL 

This case-study session details the purpose, the development and the application of Code Orange 2, a virtual hospital environment designed to prepare health care professionals for mass casualty incidents. In the post 9-11 world, mass casualty incident training has received increased attention, especially in the health care industry.  Full-scale "live" disaster training exercises are costly, difficult to organize and exceedingly disruptive to normal hospital operations.  Finding an effective solution that allows key hospital personnel to take part in disaster preparedness planning and training more frequently, at a lower cost, and with minimal impact on patients and staff is the goal of the Code Orange 2 project developed at Simulation and Training Environment Lab (SiTEL). 

Code Orange 2 helps players learn the protocols of the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) and familiarize with the procedures required for handling crises.  HICS is an important component of NIMS, and NIMS compliance is a requirement for funding from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA).  In addition, this session will discuss the integration between Code Orange 2 and SiTEL's Learning Management System which allows for effective competency assessments.

Tactical Combat Casualty Care & The Corpsmen Training System
Brent Smith
Angela Salva
Engineering & Computer Simulations

This session details two large projects that are combining game-based technologies and styles-of-play to help with training for combat casualty care and corpsmen training. 

The first is the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TC3) Simulation - a game-based application that enables users to practice and learn the concepts of battlefield medicine through relevant scenarios.  This project combines game-based simulations with elements of persistent 3D virtual worlds, immersive learning environments, virtual classrooms, simulation-based training, web-based content, and collaborative, online knowledge repositories.  Not only a game the TC3 system also includes the TC3 mission editor to create and share scenarios across the Army enterprise.

The Computer Based Corpsmen Training System is an immersive, first person Medic trainer that presents learners with interactive 3D Serious Games for learning and practicing battlefield medicine. Commonly known as the CBCTS, this system builds upon the US Army’s Tactical Combat Casualty Care Simulation to teach Navy Fleet and Marine Force Corpsman trainees. The corpsman trainee takes on the first person view of a corpsman attached to a Marine squad in Afghanistan. During the mission teammates are wounded and the corpsman must balance triage, treatment, and safety to successfully keep his people alive and prepare them for evacuation. The CBCTS implements Serious Gaming Vignettes as skill building exercises that focus on triage, treatment planning, safety, 9-line evacuation information, trauma management and how to successfully use other members of your team to successfully complete each mission. Within each mission, every casualty can survive with the correct treatment applied within a critical period of time. If the player fails to assess injuries correctly or spends too much time treating one casualty, others can die. 

The Creation and Assessment of A Game for Suicide Prevention
Dr. Glen Albright
Kognito Interactive

Designed by Kognito, At-Risk trains university faculty to identify and approach students exhibiting signs of depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide and, if necessary, refer those students to the university counseling center. The game uses Kognito’s human-interaction engine to engage players in simulated conversations with virtual, fully animated students. The game has been adopted by over 30 universities in the U.S.

One of the biggest challenges facing serious-game developers is providing empirical evidence on the ability of games to influence players’ skills, knowledge, and behavior. Until we are able to design studies and show evidence of the impact of games, many people will continue to view our community as more “buzz” than substance.

In the presentation, we will share the assessment techniques we used in evaluating At-Risk, a suicide-prevention training game. We will share how this study was structured, how we motivated universities to participate, how we engaged one university to take the lead in conducting the assessment, and how they secured funds to conduct the study. Many of these techniques can be adapted for evaluating the outcomes of other games, and reducing the misconception that empirical studies are highly complex and unachievable for game developers.

The At-Risk study involved collecting responses to a situational-judgment task. The study found that subjects who took At-Risk were 1) more willing to take on the role of a gatekeeper and approach a student about whom they are concerned and 2) better at applying best practices in identifying, approaching, and referring students when compared to a control group who received a training manual covering similar material. The results of the empirical study are further supported by a survey study conducted by Kognito in 72 universities in the U.S. These results will also be shared in the presentation.

A review of the behavioral effects of video games on children with ADHD
Paul Ballas
Green Tree School

The relationship between symptoms of ADHD and the playing of video games is not well understood. The American Medical Association and American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry have reflected this ambivalence in recommendations and press releases.  Because video games are among the most popular pastimes of children and teenagers and ADHD is one of the most common childhood psychiatric diagnoses, pediatricians, family practice physicians, and child psychiatrists commonly encounter children with ADHD who play video games regularly. How are we to advise them and their families?  

Research historically has focused on the negative consequences of playing video games; however, recent studies are illuminating the possible benefits of video games on cognition and visual information processing.  Some research suggests that children with ADHD may be using video games as a form of self-medication.  Video games may boost self-esteem in a population of children who derive little of it from their schoolwork or family life.  
Additional research has shown that interactive games can improve classroom learning and social relationships for boys with ADHD.  

Evidence indicates that the presence of a computer in the home of a preschool child can improve school readiness and cognitive development regardless of the frequency of access to or ownership of child electronic games or video games in the household, the socioeconomic status of the family, or the developmental stage of the child.  Lastly, some evidence suggests that action video games may briefly improve certain cognitive functions.  

I believe that at the current state of research, it is premature to advise families to eliminate video games from the lives of children with ADHD, at least until the negative and potentially beneficial effects of playing video games (colloquially known as gaming) are better characterized. The following is a summary of recent research findings on the psychiatric and behavioral effects of video games on children with ADHD. I hope that this summary better prepares clinicians when they discuss video games with families and may give a guide to the current state of research on the effects of video games in this population.

Impacts of Exergames of Player Effort and Exertion
Wei Peng, Michigan State University
Elizabeth Lyons, University of North Carolina

This session combines two talks based on work being done by grantees of the RWJF Health Games Research National Program.  It includes a look at Short-Term and Long-Term Effectiveness of Exergames for Young Adults by Wei Peng from Michigan State University and Predicting Sensory and Control Effects of Console Videogames in Young Adults by Elizabeth Lyons from the University of North Carolina. 

Reading, Writing and Exergaming: Incorporating Active Games into the School Environment
Emily Murphy
West Virginia University

Nearly 10 million children and adolescents in the United States are currently overweight or obese.  Results from the Coronary Artery Risk Detection in Appalachian Communities Project, shows that the prevalence of overweight and obesity in West Virginia's youth is even higher than the national average, with nearly 50% of WV fifth graders being classified as overweight or obese.  One important way to prevent obesity is to increase physical activity.  Our research and others have shown that exercise interventions using active video games results in multiple health benefits including improvements in endothelial function, blood pressure and fitness levels in overweight children.  This is a very important finding, considering overweight and/or obese children are less likely to participate in volitional exercise or sports programs than their normal weight peers, but exercising using active video games (Exergaming) appeals to all children.

Schools have the opportunity to play a critical role in increasing physical activity levels in children by providing daily, quality physical education.  Unfortunately, very few state requires daily physical education, and in many states (like West Virginia), high school students are not required to participate in physical education at all.  Due to these disheartening statistics, we have begun exploring how Exergaming can be incorporated into the schools for the purpose of providing alternative opportunities for physical activity throughout the school day.

Those attending this session will learn about the process of incorporating Exergaming into all aspects of  the school environment, as well as results from the various components of the WV's statewide project. In 2006, various West Virginia State partners (known as the WV Games for Health Project) and Konami Digitial Entertainment pledged that Dance Dance Revolution would be provided to all public school in West Virginia.  To date, all middle school and high schools have been provided the opportunity to have DDR as well nearly half of the elementary schools.  In addition,  the possible health benefits of Exergaming clubs is currently being studied in middle and high schools in West Virginia, as part of a multi-state USDA grant entitled, "Using Video Games to Promote Activity".  Finally, this spring WV Games for Health Project and Konami have joined forces once again to implement a statewide DDR tournament for all public schools.  Individual school competition will begin in March, regional competitions will take place in April, and the culminating statewide event will take place on May 22nd in Charleston, WV (the state capitol).  

Using Active Games in a Social Context to Improve Physical Activity: Research Findings
Dr. Ann Maloney, Maine Medical Center
Maja Mataric, Ph.D., USC

This session combines two talks based on work being done by grantees of the RWJF Health Games Research National Program. Dr. Ann Maloney, M.D. (Maine Medical Center) talks about findings from  her research project, Family-Based Exergaming with Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) and Maja Mataric, Ph.D. from the University of Southern California will speak on Robot Motivator: Towards Adaptive Health Games for Productive Long-Term Interaction.

What Can We Learn from fMRI During Videogame Play?
Adam Gazzaley, M.D., Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco
Adam Noah, Ph.D., Long Island University

Two grants from the RWJF Health Games Research National Program will showcase their work looking at what we can learn from fMRI imaging when building games for health.  Adam Gazzaley, M.D., Ph.D. (University of California, San Francisco) will speak about his project, "A Video Game to Enhance Cognitive Health in Older Adults" and Adam Noah, Ph.D. (Long Island University) will talk about his work using fMRI as part of his look at using dance videogame training for people with Parkinson's Disease.

Experiences of Using Video Games in Psychotherapy: What would Freud Play? 
T. Atilla Ceranoglu, M.D. 
Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston 

Videogames are starting to find their way into medical practice especially in psychology and psychotherapy.  In psychiatric practice, one use for videogames is as an aid in social skills training of children with developmental delays and in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). How can this most popular children's toy prove to be such a useful tool in dynamic psychotherapy of youth?  This session explores the ways one psychiatrist is utilizing games in their practice.

Opportunities abound where child psychiatry practice meets video game design. As a result of using many off-the-shelf games we will explore key points game designers may consider in game development for specific use in psychotherapy of youth. Through a review of child analysis literature in a user-friendly manner, the presenter conceptualizes videogames in the context  and fleshes out the key aspects of a perfect videogame for use in psychotherapy.  The overall goal is to further our understanding of how to use games in psychotherapy sessions by better understanding not only their specific uses but how children relate to ideas and express themselves through videogame play that can be at the heart of therapist conversation and observation.