Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40420195›Full record

Trial reportThe international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2025

The impact of narratives and active video games among black and hispanic children with overweight and obesity: a randomized controlled trial.

Amy S Lu, Tom Baranowski, Tiago V Barreira, Amy Fleischman, Melanie C Green, Shirley Y Huang, I-Min Lee, Lynne L Levitsky, Farzad Noubary, Debbe Thompson

Registry-linked trialAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04116515 (The Narrative Effect of Active Video Games on Long-term Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity), which is not on this map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT04116515 nacompletednot on this map

The Narrative Effect of Active Video Games on Long-term Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity (Main Trial)

TypeinterventionalSponsorNortheastern UniversityRan2019 to 2022Enrolled135ConditionsPhysical Inactivity in ChildrenArmsXbox / active video games, Animated cartoon narratives, Standard clinical care
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
  3. Active Video Gaming and Obesity in Children 6-12 Years Old: A Systematic Review.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2026
    Review
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Amy S LuHealth Technology Lab, Department of Communication Studies, College of Arts, Media, and Design, Department of Public Health & Health Sciences, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. a.lu@northeastern.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8230-9049
Tom BaranowskiDepartment of Pediatrics, and USDA funded Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, 1100 Bates Avenue, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
Tiago V BarreiraExercise Science Department, Syracuse University, 820 Comstock Ave, Syracuse, NY, 13244, USA.
Amy FleischmanDepartment of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
Melanie C GreenDepartment of Communication, University at Buffalo, 359 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA.
Shirley Y HuangDepartment of Pediatrics, Tufts Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, 755 Washington Street, Boston, MA, 02111, USA.
I-Min LeeHarvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 900 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
Lynne L LevitskyDepartment of Pediatrics, Pediatric Endocrinology Division, Harvard Medical School, Emeritus Chief, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.
Farzad NoubaryDepartment of Public Health & Health Sciences, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
Debbe ThompsonDepartment of Pediatrics, and USDA funded Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, 1100 Bates Avenue, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.

Funding

The Narrative Effect of Active Video Games on Long-term Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical ActivityR01DK109316 · NIDDK · NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY · PI LU, AMY SHIRONG · 2016 to 2020
$3.2M
NIDDK NIH HHS R01 DK109316NIDDK NIH HHS R01DK109316
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundOverweight and obesity disproportionately affect Black and Hispanic children who also play more video games. Narratives, coupled with home-based active video games (AVGs), may enhance PA and mitigate these disparities. This study tested the effect of narrative-enhanced home-based AVGs among predominantly Black and Hispanic children with overweight and obesity.

methodsThis 6-month three-group RCT recruited 135 children aged 7-14 from pediatric clinics in Boston, MA (January 2020 - May 2022) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were randomized into: [Narrative + AVG], receiving an Xbox/Kinect with six AVGs interspersed with a narrative animation Ataraxia (72 episodes over six months), which accompanied the AVGs; [AVG Only], receiving the Xbox/Kinect and AVGs without narrative animation; and [Waitlist Control], receiving the intervention post-RCT. The primary outcome was objectively assessed daily moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). Secondary outcomes included body composition (fat and lean mass, total region fat), BMI%, fasting insulin, glucose, lipid panel (Cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and Triglycerides), and C-reactive protein. Assessments occurred at baseline, 3, and 6 months. It was hypothesized that [Narrative + AVG] would outperform [AVG Only], which would outperform [Waitlist Control].

results79 children completed all three visits (Age = 10.9 ± 1.7; 63% Boys; 62% Black; 25% Latino; 11% Mixed; and 1% Asian). No statistically significant improvements in MVPA were observed within any condition at 3 or 6 months. A post-hoc exploratory analysis revealed that over the first three months, [Narrative + AVG] increased daily MVPA by 6.8 min compared to [Waitlist Control]. Over the same period, the [AVG Only] group exhibited 815 g less lean mass gain and 7.2 mg/dL lower HDL cholesterol levels relative to the [Waitlist Control].

conclusionsWhile neither narrative-enhanced AVGs nor AVGs alone consistently increased daily MVPA across the 6-month RCT, participants in the narrative AVGs group demonstrated greater daily MVPA compared to the control group during the initial three months. During this same period, the AVG-only group exhibited reduced lean mass gain and lower HDL cholesterol levels compared to the waitlist control. The added advantage of narratives was inconclusive, likely due to implementation challenges encountered during the pandemic. These findings highlight the need for addressing these challenges in future research in a fully powered study.

trial registrationActive Video Games on Physical Activity (Main Trial), NCT04116515. Registered December 25, 2019, https//clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04116515.

Indexed as

Black or African AmericanExerciseHispanic or LatinoNarrationPediatric ObesityVideo GamesAdolescentChildCOVID-19FemaleHumansMaleOverweightActive video gamesBiomarkersBody compositionNarrativePhysical activityRCT

Identifiers

PMID40420195
PMCPMC12107869

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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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.