Augmented Reality Games as a New Class of Physical Activity Interventions? The Impact of Pokémon Go Use and Gaming Intensity on Physical Activity.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the health impact of augmented reality games by examining the association between Pokémon Go and physical activity among university students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This pilot study included 65 medical students who were iPhone (Apple, Inc., Cupertino, CA) users with the built-in accelerometer and Health app. Main outcome measures were the change in daily walking distance before and after the release of Pokémon Go (Niantic, Inc., San Francisco, CA). RESULTS: Twenty-four (36.9%) medical students were active Pokémon Go players. When compared with nonplayers, Pokémon Go players on average walked 1.5, 1.2, 0.9, and 0.6 km more daily on the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth day of the game, respectively (P < 0.05). Physical activity differences were not detected beyond the first week. Among Pokémon Go players, higher intensity of gaming was associated with increased distance walked 50 days after the release of the game compared to previously (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In this pilot study, Pokémon Go was associated with a transient increase in physical activity in the first week. Augmented reality games need to demonstrate a sustained positive health impact to be promoted as a new class of physical activity interventions.

The Hong Kong Early Child Development Scale: A Validation Study.

This paper reports on the development and validation of the Hong Kong Early Child Development Scale (HKECDS), a holistic measure of child development designed specifically for preschool children in Hong Kong. Scale development was an iterative process and the first version of the scale contained 190 items whereas the final version includes only 95. Children ranging in age from three to six years were administered trial versions of the HKECDS in Studies 1 (n = 60) and 2 (n = 240). Item analyses indicated that it is a developmental scale and that it has an appropriate level of difficulty for preschool children. It also discriminates between three- to six-year-olds from different social backgrounds in Hong Kong. The final version of the HKECDS includes items from the following eight subscales: Personal, Social and Self-Care (7 items), Language Development (13 items), Pre-academic Learning (27 items), Cognitive Development (10 items), Gross Motor (12 items), Fine Motor (9 items), Physical Fitness, Health and Safety (7 items), and Self and Society (10 items). The HKECDS is the first early child development scale which considers both the holistic development of preschool children and incorporates current expectations of early child development in Hong Kong. In this era of evidence-based decision making, it can be used to evaluate both the efficacy of targeted interventions and broader child-related public policies on early child development in Hong Kong.