JOGOS EDUCATIVOS NA PREVENÇÃO DA OBESIDADE EM CRIANÇAS E ADOLESCENTES: UMA REVISÃO SISTEMÁTICA DA LITERATURA

Abstract

The use of educational games is presented as an alternative to help prevent obesity in children and adolescents. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review to analyze the characteristics used in interventions with the use of educational games to prevent obesity in children and adolescents, as well as to evaluate their quality and effectiveness. The review was done following the Preferred Reporting Intems for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes (PRISMA) guide and its review protocol is available from PROSPERO under the registration CRD42019121448. The search for the studies was performed in the databases SCOPUS, PUBMED, IEEEXplore, LILACS and CENTRAL. At the end, twelve articles were selected in which we found great heterogeneity in the intervention and evaluation of the games used. Only two studies were considered of strong quality. Most studies took place at school, lasting from 1 day to 18 months. The main benefits found in the interventions were increased nutritional knowledge and positive dietary changes, increasing the consumption of healthy foods or decreasing the intake of processed foods. To better verify the effect of these types of games, further studies using validated and reliable instruments that address a significant sample, allocate participants at random, and evaluate the effect of long-term intervention are needed.