Scaling the Virtual Fitness Buddy Ecosystem as a School-Based Physical Activity Intervention for Children.
Scaling the Virtual Fitness Buddy Ecosystem as a School-Based Physical Activity Intervention for Children.
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DOI：
10.1109/mcg.2021.3130555
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发表时间：
2022-01
影响因子：
1.8
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中科院分区：
文献类型：
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儿童肥胖是一个日益关注的问题，因为它可能导致终身健康问题，并延续到成年。肥胖的一个重要因素是在幼儿时期形成的体育活动（PA）习惯，因为这些习惯往往会在整个成年期持续下去。为了帮助孩子们养成健康的PA习惯，我们设计了一个名为虚拟健身伙伴（VFB）生态系统的混合现实系统，孩子们可以在其中与虚拟宠物代理进行互动。当孩子锻炼时，他们的宠物变得更苗条，更快，并且能够和他们玩更多的游戏。我们对该项目的初步部署显示出了希望，但仅设计用于持续三天的短期干预。最近，我们将其从试点级研究扩展到由422名儿童组成的9个月干预。最终，我们的目标是将这个项目扩大到全国范围的一级预防计划，以鼓励儿童中度到重度PA。本文探讨了在现场大规模设计和部署该系统过程中遇到的挑战和吸取的经验教训。
Childhood obesity is a growing concern as it can lead to lifelong health problems that carry over into adulthood. A substantial contributing factor to obesity is the physical activity (PA) habits that are formed in early childhood, as these habits tend to sustain throughout adulthood. To aid children in forming healthy PA habits, we designed a mixed reality system called the Virtual Fitness Buddy (VFB) ecosystem, in which children can interact with a virtual pet agent. As a child exercises, their pet becomes slimmer, faster, and able to play more games with them. Our initial deployment of this project showed promise but was only designed for a short-term intervention lasting three days. More recently, we have scaled it from a pilot grade study to a 9-month intervention comprised of 422 children. Ultimately, our goal is to scale this project to be a nationwide primary prevention program to encourage moderate to vigorous PA in children. This article explores the challenges and lessons learned during the design and deployment of this system at scale in the field.