Games, and particularly video games, have been found useful in medicine in diverse areas such as post stroke therapy, weight control, pain control during bandage changes on burn victims, and for education to teach people about their afflictions. There seem to be benefits for clinicians as well. For example, multiple studies have shown that better gamers make better surgeons.
A new peer-reviewed journal, Games for Health from Mary Ann Leibert publishers, has just been unveiled. The journal will focus on the topic of games and how they can impact healthcare.
More from the publishers:
Games are rapidly becoming an important tool for improving health behaviors ranging from healthy lifestyle habits and behavior modification to self-management of illness and chronic conditions to motivating and supporting physical activity. Games are also increasingly used to train health care professionals in methods for diagnosis, medical procedures, patient monitoring, as well as for responding to epidemics and natural disasters. G4H is a must for anyone interested in the research and design of health games that integrate well-tested, evidence-based behavioral health strategies to help improve health behaviors and to support the delivery of care.
Games for Health coverage includes:
Nutrition, weight management, obesity
Disease prevention, self-management, and adherence
Cognitive, mental, emotional, and behavioral health
Games in home-to-clinic telehealth systems
Link: Games for Health…
(hat tip: iMedicalApps)