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International Conference on Well-Being in the Information Society

WIS 2018: Well-Being in the Information Society. Fighting Inequalities pp 233–241Cite as

Combating Health Inequalities Using IT: The Case of Games for Controlling Diabetes and Obesity in Chicago’s South Side

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Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 907))

Abstract

Diabetes and obesity are serious chronic diseases that are increasing at alarming escalating rates globally; however lower socio-economic groups of populations are over represented and current attempts to stem such increases have not proved to be successful. This paper proffers the potential of serious games that invoke social influence dynamics and are developed around culturally and socially relevant contexts as a way to address this disturbing and growing problem. This paper begins with a brief review of how serious games can be used as an effective learning and communication medium as well as outlining the benefits of social influence before applying the constructs to an Urban Health (Chicago) context. The paper demonstrates how, in this context, games can be used as a pedagogical tool to foster superior learning and understanding. Playing games or using other simulation-oriented applications can offer a visual portrayal of situations, from which this population can garner understanding and applicability to clinical constructs and knowledge.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Epworth HealthCare and Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia

    N. Wickramasinghe

Authors
  1. N. Wickramasinghe
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Correspondence to N. Wickramasinghe .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland

    Hongxiu Li

  2. University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Ágústa Pálsdóttir

  3. Fachhochschule Flensburg, Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

    Roland Trill

  4. University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Reima Suomi

  5. Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

    Yevgeniya Amelina

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Wickramasinghe, N. (2018). Combating Health Inequalities Using IT: The Case of Games for Controlling Diabetes and Obesity in Chicago’s South Side. In: Li, H., Pálsdóttir, Á., Trill, R., Suomi, R., Amelina, Y. (eds) Well-Being in the Information Society. Fighting Inequalities. WIS 2018. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 907. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97931-1_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97931-1_19

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-97930-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-97931-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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