RESEARCH OF THE APPLICABILITY OF EXERGAMES FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF OBESITY INDEX AND BODY IMAGE IN SCHOOL CHILDREN

Abstract

Ramón Chacón1, Félix Zurita1, Manuel Castro1, Tamara Espejo1, Asunción Martínez-Martínez2 y Marta Linares1

Childhood overweight is one of the main health problems in school children. Also, this population can have misconceptions about their Body Image (BI), inducing dissatisfaction and low self-esteem. This descriptive and transversal research analysed the obesity rates, BI and the opinion about active videogames of 577 school children, in order to use these technologies to improve the problems described before. The results indicated that three out of every ten respondents had weight problems. In addition, the research showed that a significant number of participants was not satisfied with their BI and that they thought that Exergames are fun for doing Physical Education (PE) at school. Besides, the study evinced statistical differences in the relationship between BI and obesity rates. In conclusion, this research shows the interest in using these technologies in PE lessons to improve the health problems caused by overweight and the BI of children as well.