A University of Southern California research effort co-lead by Marientina Gotsis of the Interactive Media Division has received a $200,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to explore how interactive digital games could be designed to improve players' health behaviors and outcomes.

Developed by the School of Cinematic Arts, the Keck School of Medicine at USC and the USC School of Social Work, Wellness Partners is a cell phone game that harnesses social networks to combat obesity. In creating the application, the team will probe the effectiveness of mobile games and online social networks to promote lifestyle changes that result in greater physical activity.

“This unique interdisciplinary collaboration is teaching us how to combine elements and theories of cooperative play, social support and social networks into an engaging game that can help families and friends in their quests for better health,” said Gotsis, who is the IMD Media Lab manager and the co-principal investigator of the effort.

To read the full press release on this topic see:
http://cinema.usc.edu/about/news/wellness-partner-game.htm