IMPLEMENTATION OF AN EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION ON FOOD AND NUTRITION THROUGH GAMIFICATION IN THE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT FOR OBESITY PREVENTION. PILOT STUDY

Abstract

Introduction: food and nutrition education are a challenge in the school environment, given that the problem of overweight continues with a growing trend. ICT and gamification have demonstrated their potential to promote participation and collaborative learning; they can be part of innovative strategies for health promotion and disease prevention. Objective: to design, implement and evaluate an educational intervention on food and nutrition through gamification, “Gusanitos y escaleras saludables”, to prevent childhood obesity.  Methodology: qualitative approach and hermeneutic paradigm. Convenience selection of a population and a public elementary school in Medellin. Results: all the educational sessions in which the gamification strategy was used showed a compliance of more than 80%. Conclusion: the process evaluation shows that educational strategies based on gamification can enhance the construction of knowledge with adolescent students for the prevention of overweight.