Joy of moving: feasibility and fidelity of a child-led setup for mobile ‘phygital’ play

Résumé fourni par la source

Introduction Fundamental movement skills (FMS) are an important foundation for children's confident participation in physical activity and sport, but many children spend substantial time engaged in sedentary screen-based activities. Phygital play, defined here as digital experiences that require real physical activity with gross motor skills, offers one possible way to create more active forms of screen time. However, before such experiences can be evaluated for broader developmental or movement-related effects, it is necessary to establish whether young children can access them successfully and whether they deliver the intended active gameplay experience. Methods This implementation-focused pilot evaluated the mobile movement-tracking game Joy of moving in 182 children aged 4–7 years from Irish primary schools. The study examined whether children could independently complete a child-led setup process to reach gameplay and, once gameplay began, whether sessions delivered the intended dose of movement under adequate tracking conditions. An iterative three-phase design was used. Feasibility was defined as successful independent setup and access to gameplay. Fidelity was defined as “dose with quality” during gameplay. Results Across three iterations of the setup flow, independent setup success increased from 42.6% to 77.4% (χ²(2, N = 182) = 16.41, p < .001). Among children who successfully completed setup, gameplay completion remained consistently high (92.3%–94.9%), while implementation fidelity (“dose with quality”) improved from 66.7% to 91.1% as refinements to the setup guidance resulted in more reliable body positioning and tracking during gameplay. Discussion These findings suggest that many children aged 4–7 years were able to access gameplay independently and that, following optimisation of the setup process, the intended movement experience could be delivered with high implementation fidelity.