Supporting a participant-centric management of obesity via a self-improving health game

Abstract

A majority of American and Canadian adults are currently obese or overweight. Despite the urgency in tackling this issue, current interventions have not yet been able to provide sustainable weight loss, in part due to the difficulty of maintaining engagement over an extended period of time. Emerging trends in self-management have led to the design of new health tools in HCI that can improve individual engagement. In this paper, we propose to combine health games with recommender systems. The former has a demonstrated ability in promoting behaviour change, while the latter is able to personalize user experience. This approach goes beyond traditional health games, as the recommender system's personalization provides players with options tailored to the specific factors shaping their weight, thereby allowing for a high degree of customization which is sought after but difficult to achieve in weight interventions. Focusing on what matters for each individual can also be used to initiate dialogue with a health-care provider, which sets the stage for increased agreement on treatment and can lead to improved health outcomes. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.