Health-Care Interventions with Games: A low-cost, high-impact approach

The increasing acceptance of the efficacy and validity of applied games, and specifically games for health, has fostered the growth of new ideas and applications. Engineers and game developers are working on a range of products that integrate new electronics that can detect physiological states with game or game-like interfaces. These devices can record and transmit physical and behavioral data as well as motivate participants to modify behavior in prosocial and prohealth ways. The U.S. and European Games for Health conferences, now held annually, are a testament to the increasing specialization in this area. Participants at the 2014 IEEE Games, Entertainment, and Media (GEM) Conference in Toronto presented papers on several health-related topics, including using games to motivate patients to do rehabilitation, training physicians to perform difficult procedures, and improving continuing education practices for health-care professionals.