Exergames

Last week I had a chance to observe and participate in exergames for my exercise psychology class. We went to a local elementary school that hosts exergames for an after school program. At first glance, I was not impressed with the games as it did not appear as if the kids were getting much exercise from them. However, once I played some of the games with the kids, I found they were actually quite a workout! The class room had several different types of games, including Dance Dance Revolution, Nintendo Wii, and stationary bikes with TV screens simulating motorcycle races. The kids were getting great workouts from the games and were having FUN playing them. Part of me felt like the kids should be outside playing traditional sports and getting fresh air, however I also realized that video games and technology are the games of the future. Through exergames, kids can experience all the same aspects of traditional games, such as autonomy (they get to choose the games they play), competence (they gain performance self-efficacy by progressing through levels), and relatedness (they can play on teams and against other peers, enhancing their social support.) I predict exergames will become more prevalent in schools as they are an innovative way to get kids more physically active.

The last lecture of Randy Pausch

This is a powerful speech...

Nature of Media

The media can be a powerful tool to change the attitudes and behaviors of the public.  I found this Dove health campaign website that attempts to counteract the persuasive beauty messages aimed at women.  I thought the designers of the Dove message did a great job by targeting the parents of young girls to help prevent them from going to drastic and unhealthy measures to meet the cultural trends of unrealistically thin physiques.  

Check it out at: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/home.asp

Identity Building

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend Tuesday's lecture. I am planning on doing some extra reading though as it sounds like from other comments that I missed an interesting lecture on the application of formative research and real world examples. In reading Engelberg's articles on brand identity and identity building, I was amazed at how much thought and research goes into proactively planning an identity for an organization. I liked the strategy of writing down the mission statement and then replacing the name of your organization with a different one and comparing the similarities and differences. Sounds like the key is to be as unique as possible to distinguish a valuable market niche to fill. So much strategy is involved with developing an identity since a lot of it deals with the audience and stakeholders' perceptions. Once again, I am seeing the great value in formative research as one needs to conduct identity research to best fit the brand and identity with the mission statement.

Reflexes

Wrong Reason Health Promotion

The idea of "wrong reason" health promotion strategies resonated the most with me from Tuesday's class. A "wrong reason" can be a superficial or minor consequence about a health issue, compared to providing the gruesome health consequences like cancer and death. I think this approach is especially beneficial when targeting teenagers as they tend to have an invincible attitude. Most often a teenager will not be effected by the possibility of getting cancer down the road, but they would listen to an immediate problem, such as bad breath from smoking. I looked online for examples of humor in health campaigns and found one that targeted kids and teenagers and highlighted poor reflexes as a problem from eating junk food. The beginning of the ad shows a guy getting kicked in karate as he has a delayed response to block the kick once he is on the ground. I think this strategy of revealing immediate consequences from a poor diet, compared to an attempt to scare them with diabetes, heart disease, and other ailments, would have a greater effect in changing their behaviors.

Health Literacy

After visiting the doctor today and watching the video on health literacy yesterday, I realized how people can easily endanger their lives by not understanding the doctors or their prescription labels.  I found myself asking questions and paraphrasing what the doctor had said to make sure I knew how to take the medication.  Because I was at health services on campus, I'm sure the doctors there assume the students they see are capable of reading the fine print on the prescription labels and can understand the medical jargon used by the health care providers.  I was made aware of how intimidating a doctors visit could be for someone with a low level of literacy, as they would not have the skills to ask important questions if they aren't able to comprehend what the doctor communicates to them.  After I left student health I read over the directions, warnings, and precautions of taking the medication, all of which was in fine print embedded in paragraphs of big words.  I learned some important things about what not to take with the medicine, which was not described to me and would be hard to find for someone with a low level of literacy.  Looking at my experience with a health communications perspective, I am now seeing where change needs to happen and who is responsible.  The health care providers need to make sure patients comprehend the information given to them and printed materials should offer the information in easy to find bullet points.  This brings up the point of 'transcreation' that rewrites the key concepts in easier language.