Nutriacción+: A Tool for Learning About Healthy Eating for Economically and Educationally Vulnerable Children
Ecuador has a high prevalence of malnutrition. In this scenario, Ecuador promotes education on healthy eating through informative materials and talks. However, their content is usually extensive and does not consider the age, economic status, and educational level of the receivers. In addition, chil...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2254-9625/15/6/115 |
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| author | Diana Arce-Cuesta Evelyn Pesántez Pablo Cevallos-Larrea Cato Van Strijdonck Michael Peralta |
| author_facet | Diana Arce-Cuesta Evelyn Pesántez Pablo Cevallos-Larrea Cato Van Strijdonck Michael Peralta |
| author_sort | Diana Arce-Cuesta |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Ecuador has a high prevalence of malnutrition. In this scenario, Ecuador promotes education on healthy eating through informative materials and talks. However, their content is usually extensive and does not consider the age, economic status, and educational level of the receivers. In addition, children and adolescents often show little interest in learning about healthy eating. In this regard, the literature points to the use of educational games as an effective alternative to improve attention in learning; however, there are few tools addressed to populations in situations of economic and educational vulnerability. This article presents the development and evaluation of an educational game designed to promote learning about healthy eating for children and adolescents in situations of economic and educational vulnerability in Ecuador. The Design Thinking methodology was applied, with three iterative cycles of design, prototyping, and evaluation. Also, a comparative experiment involving 34 participants was conducted to evaluate the observed differences in knowledge acquisition between Nutriacción+ and informative talks. The results analyze how Nutriacción+ contributes to the learning of healthy eating and offer a replicable game design process for similar populations. The results suggest that Nutriacción+ can improve healthy eating knowledge in children aged 8 to 11 years. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cfd3624f207f4bb4b786ed0beeebf2e8 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2174-8144 2254-9625 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education |
| spelling | doaj-art-cfd3624f207f4bb4b786ed0beeebf2e82025-08-20T02:24:43ZengMDPI AGEuropean Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education2174-81442254-96252025-06-0115611510.3390/ejihpe15060115Nutriacción+: A Tool for Learning About Healthy Eating for Economically and Educationally Vulnerable ChildrenDiana Arce-Cuesta0Evelyn Pesántez1Pablo Cevallos-Larrea2Cato Van Strijdonck3Michael Peralta4Management, Information and Technology Research Group (LABGIT), Salesian Polytechnic University, Cuenca 010102, EcuadorBiomedical Engineering Research Group (GIIB), Salesian Polytechnic University, Cuenca 010102, EcuadorBiomedical Engineering Research Group (GIIB), Salesian Polytechnic University, Cuenca 010102, EcuadorFaculty of Health and Social Work, Social School, University Colleges Leuven-Limburg (UCLL), 3001 Leuven, BelgiumBiomedical Engineering Research Group (GIIB), Salesian Polytechnic University, Cuenca 010102, EcuadorEcuador has a high prevalence of malnutrition. In this scenario, Ecuador promotes education on healthy eating through informative materials and talks. However, their content is usually extensive and does not consider the age, economic status, and educational level of the receivers. In addition, children and adolescents often show little interest in learning about healthy eating. In this regard, the literature points to the use of educational games as an effective alternative to improve attention in learning; however, there are few tools addressed to populations in situations of economic and educational vulnerability. This article presents the development and evaluation of an educational game designed to promote learning about healthy eating for children and adolescents in situations of economic and educational vulnerability in Ecuador. The Design Thinking methodology was applied, with three iterative cycles of design, prototyping, and evaluation. Also, a comparative experiment involving 34 participants was conducted to evaluate the observed differences in knowledge acquisition between Nutriacción+ and informative talks. The results analyze how Nutriacción+ contributes to the learning of healthy eating and offer a replicable game design process for similar populations. The results suggest that Nutriacción+ can improve healthy eating knowledge in children aged 8 to 11 years.https://www.mdpi.com/2254-9625/15/6/115improve healthy eating knowledgehealthy eatingeducational vulnerabilityeconomic vulnerabilityiterative cyclesreplicable game design process |
| spellingShingle | Diana Arce-Cuesta Evelyn Pesántez Pablo Cevallos-Larrea Cato Van Strijdonck Michael Peralta Nutriacción+: A Tool for Learning About Healthy Eating for Economically and Educationally Vulnerable Children European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education improve healthy eating knowledge healthy eating educational vulnerability economic vulnerability iterative cycles replicable game design process |
| title | Nutriacción+: A Tool for Learning About Healthy Eating for Economically and Educationally Vulnerable Children |
| title_full | Nutriacción+: A Tool for Learning About Healthy Eating for Economically and Educationally Vulnerable Children |
| title_fullStr | Nutriacción+: A Tool for Learning About Healthy Eating for Economically and Educationally Vulnerable Children |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nutriacción+: A Tool for Learning About Healthy Eating for Economically and Educationally Vulnerable Children |
| title_short | Nutriacción+: A Tool for Learning About Healthy Eating for Economically and Educationally Vulnerable Children |
| title_sort | nutriaccion a tool for learning about healthy eating for economically and educationally vulnerable children |
| topic | improve healthy eating knowledge healthy eating educational vulnerability economic vulnerability iterative cycles replicable game design process |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2254-9625/15/6/115 |
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