title: Squire's Quest! Dietary outcome evaluation of a multimedia game.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fruit, juice, and vegetable (FJV) consumption among children is low. Innovative programs are needed to enable children to increase FJV intake. Psychoeducational multimedia permits the delivery of interventions as designed and capitalizes on known behavior change principles.
  
  
  METHODS
  Elementary school was the unit of recruitment, assignment, and analysis. Twenty-six elementary schools were pair matched on size and percentage of free or reduced-price lunch, and randomly assigned to treatment or control groups. Data were collected just before and just after the program.
  
  
  METHODS
  All fourth-grade students in participating elementary schools were invited to participate. Data were collected on 1578 students. MAIN OUTCOME Servings of fruit, 100% juice, and vegetables consumed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Squire's Quest! is a ten-session, psychoeducational, multimedia game delivered over 5 weeks, with each session lasting about 25 minutes. Based on social cognitive theory, educational activities attempted to increase preferences for FJV through multiple exposures and associating fun with their consumption, increase asking behaviors for FJV at home and while eating out, and increase skills in FJV preparation through making virtual recipes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four days of dietary intake were assessed before and after the intervention. Assessment was made by the Food Intake Recording Software System (FIRSSt), which conducts a multiple pass, 24-hour dietary intake interview directly with the children.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Children participating in Squire's Quest! increased their FJV consumption by 1.0 servings more than the children not receiving the program.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Psychoeducational multimedia games have the potential to substantially change dietary behavior. More research is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Children's Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. tbaranow@bcm.tmc.edu
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baranowski
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baranowski
authors.forename: Karen W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Cullen
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Marsh
authors.forename: Noemi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.forename: Issa
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Zakeri
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Honess-Morreale
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: deMoor
mesh_terms: D001628:Beverages; D002648:Child; D002957:Citrus; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014675:Vegetables