Gaming in healthcare is a rapidly developing industry within the digital health space, which aims to bridge the gap between medicine, entertainment, technology and education, according to a collaborative research done by Physic Ventures and iConecto.
The research says games for health improvement are available in all forms imaginable - online, video game consoles, CD-Rom/DVD, computer, mobile, television, board games and others.
Findings indicate that games have a number of applications in healthcare, where, for example, patients suffering from chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma, heart disease and cancer can use games such as Re-Mission to manage the condition. Also, games with built-in health education offer an alternative to traditional learning methods and can significantly improve health knowledge. Professional medical training games such as Burn Center can be used in clinical practice.
There are exercise games such as Wii Fit Plus and MayaFit, where physical activity is involved; healthy eating games that improve eating habits and knowledge of nutrition and weight management; mental health gameslike Fit Brains, designed to improve cognitive abilities; and smoking cessation gameshelp smokers quit in an entertaining way.
The research says over 300 games designed around health improvement have been developed for consumers, patients and professionals. And the number and variety of games are growing rapidly as more developers and publishers seek to enter this high-growth market segment.
At a recent industry trade show in Montreal, Canada, Nintendo and Ubisoft showcased 17 new health e-games in the fitness and life-coach genres, including a new cooking guide, a stop smoking coach, two new yoga trainers and a Pilates guide.
One new high-profile example is Nintendo's upcoming Personal Trainer: Cooking!which helps people shop for food, prepare healthy menus and cook meals with the help of a virtual guide, who reads out instructions during meal preparation.
Empowered by technology innovations and a consumer-directed healthcare environment, the research says health consumers are evolving from passive patients into complex, multidimensional health and medical decision-makers. The empowered health consumer surrounds him/herself with interactive and increasingly intelligent devices and services that deliver tailored health and medical knowledge services at the point of need 24x7 from almost any location.
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