Interactive media for childhood obesity prevention.

Childhood obesity is a worldwide pandemic that increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and multiple cancers and reduces quality of life and functional ability. Fruit, 100% juice, and vegetable (FJV) intake and physical activity (PA) are behaviors related to childhood obesity prevention. While promising, behavioral research on dietary intake and physical activity is still in its infancy. For example, most identified behavioral mediators have low predictiveness and most obesity prevention programs have not had the desired effect. Part of the problem is that scholars and practitioners have not known how to effectively operationalize behavior change procedures in appropriate implementation channels. Through working with professional media practitioners, behavioral research explores new channels to promote behavior change and to create new generations of intervention tools to improve children’s diet and physical activities. One such channel is interactive media. Interactive media provide an edutainment modality by creating theoretically precise, personalized, meaningful, and immersive