ReviewJMIR serious games2023
Effectiveness of Digital Health Interventions Containing Game Components for the Self-management of Type 2 Diabetes: Systematic Review.
Review in JMIR serious games, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The effectiveness of digital health intervention on glycemic control and physical activity in patients with type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Empowering Patients Through Literacy: A Randomized Controlled Trial of an Educational App for Evaluating Complementary Therapies in Diabetes Management.Nursing open · 2026Trial
- The effect of educational program delivered Whatsapp based on the theory of planned behavior on dietary behaviors of women with prediabetes: a quasi-experimental study.BMC women's health · 2025Trial
- Feasibility and short-term comparative outcomes of a digital-assisted community-based electrical stimulation rehabilitation program for postmenopausal women with pelvic floor dysfunction: a non-randomized controlled study.BMC women's health · 2026Article
- GUM: Gum Understanding Mission-A Serious Game to Improve Periodontitis Literacy Among University Students.Dentistry journal · 2026Article
- Is Gamification the New Panacea for Health Behavioral Changes? Implications for the Health and Life Insurance Industry.JMIR serious games · 2026Article
- Improving medication adherence in type 2 diabetes: strategies for better clinical and economic outcomes.Diabetologia · 2026Review
- Promoting Sustained Real-Life Benefits of Virtual Reality-Based Interventions in People With Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders: Qualitative Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Health literacy is much more than knowing about health; it also involves the emotions experienced during illness.PLOS digital health · 2025Article
- GPs' experienced challenges and strategies for supporting patient self-management in disease management programs for type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease - a qualitative study.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Multidisciplinary lifestyle treatment for type 2 diabetes in 12 European countries: protocol for a quasi-experimental study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Comparative Effectiveness of Wearable Devices and Built-In Step Counters in Reducing Metabolic Syndrome Risk in South Korea: Population-Based Cohort Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2025Article
- Gamification Approach to Provide Support About the Deferral Experience in Blood Donation: Design and Feasibility Study.JMIR human factors · 2024Article
- Feasibility of an exergaming training program in type 2 diabetes mellitus: A mixed method study.Digital healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGames and game components have become a major trend in the realm of digital health research and practice as they are assumed to foster behavior change and thereby improve patient-reported and clinical outcomes for patients with type 2 diabetes.
objectiveThe aim of this systematic review was to summarize and evaluate the current evidence on the effectiveness of digital health interventions containing game components on behavioral, patient-reported, and clinical outcomes for patients with type 2 diabetes.
methodsAn electronic search was conducted in MEDLINE and PsycINFO in April 2020; updated in April 2022; and supplemented by additional searches via Google Scholar, Web of Science (which was used for forward citation tracking), and within the references of the included records. Articles were identified using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. In total, 2 reviewers independently conducted title, abstract, and full-text screening and then individually performed a critical appraisal of all the included studies using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool version 2. A consensus was reached through discussion.
resultsOf 2325 potentially relevant titles (duplicates excluded), 10 (0.43%) randomized controlled trials were included in this review. Quality assessment revealed a high risk of bias for all randomized controlled trials except for 10% (1/10), with performance bias due to the lack of blinding being the major source of bias. There is evidence suggesting that digital health interventions containing game components can substantially improve motivation for physical activity (1/1, 100% of the studies dealing with PA motivation), exercise intensity (3/5, 60%), dietary behavior (4/4, 100%), health literacy (1/3, 33%), mental quality of life (2/2, 100%), glycated hemoglobin level (2/6, 33%), BMI (1/3, 33%), fasting plasma glucose level (1/2, 50%), waist circumference (1/1, 100%), and aerobic capacity (1/1, 100%).
conclusionsPublished studies indicated that digital health interventions containing game components might improve health behavior patterns, quality of life, and clinical outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. However, the intervention types and outcomes studied were heterogeneous, and study quality was mostly low, which translates to ambiguous results. Future research should focus on sound methodology and reporting as well as on identifying game components that contribute to significant positive effects.
trial registrationPROSPERO CRD42020209706; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=209706.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.