Gamification and behavioural change: techniques for health social media 

Serious games have played a part in healthcare and education development for almost a decade. They’ve been used for training the mind (cognitive training), the body (exercise games or exergames), or both. They’ve even been used to engage participation and improve adherence in different types of interventions. By adding extended social media features, games can become social too, advancing even further the notion of participatory health.

In collaboration with the Norwegian Centre for Integrated Care and Telemedicine, Salumedia Ltd., the University of Seville and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, we are working on a book chapter entitled Gamification & behavioural change: techniques for health social media. This will form part of a new book called Participatory health through social media.

Our finished work will summarise the existing evidence on how games have been related to health (positively and negatively) and present the different uses of game techniques to improve healthcare outcomes. It will explore the techniques used in health social media, their implications and effects on behavioural change.