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Year Awarded: 2005
Project Leaders:
Kami J. Silk, MSU Department of Communication; John Sherry, MSU
of Communication; Brian Winn, MSU Department of Telecommunication,
Information Studies and Media; Mildred A. Horodynski, MSU College
of Nursing; Margaret A. LaShore, Family Nutrition Program, MSU Extension;
Joyce V. McGarry, Ingham County MSU Extension
Project Description:
Only 5 percent of low-income Michigan families with young children
who are eligible for the Family Nutrition Program (FNP) and Expanded
Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) will receive the training
that they need to make healthy, safe, and economical food choices.
Interactive media interventions can bridge the gap between MSU Extension
and potential community clients to increase their nutrition literacy.
Thus, we have developed an award-winning computer game, the Fantastic
Food Challenge (FCC), to teach proper nutrition. Specifically, this
proposal hypothesizes that the FFC will be an effective intervention,
increasing nutrition literacy in our target audience in a cost-effective
manner. Participants (N=300) in the Bay City and Ingham County Extension
service areas will be exposed to nutrition education material in
one of three media modalities: 1) the FFC interactive computer game;
2) a web site (not interactive); or 3) a print information condition.
Participants will complete usability measures immediately following
the intervention (Time 1) and then complete learning retention and
dietary recall measures one month later (Time 2). Researchers will
test the efficacy of the digital game-based approach against the
other forms of information delivery to determine which media modality
is most engaging and likable for the delivery of nutrition information
and which modality is best-suited for learning and retention of
nutritional information.
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