AFP
May 29, 2008
A dozen US research teams were Thursday awarded grants totalling two million dollars (1.3 million euros) to probe how interactive games can make players physically active and spur them to make healthy lifestyle choices.
Grants of up to 200,000 dollars were awarded to 12 research teams from US universities by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), a US philanthropic group which has set up a unit called Health Games Research to explore how interactive games can serve as a springboard to better health behavior.
Research teams will investigate "the potential of physical activity video games to serve as innovative, cost-effective ways to help people recover motor skills after experiencing a stroke" or "health impacts of online mobile mini-games for people with type 2 diabetes," among other projects.
A second round of 12 grants will be awarded next year.