Aim.
To describe and explore health game interventions that enhance the physical
activity self-efficacy of children and to evaluate the effectiveness of these
interventions.

Background.
Physical inactivity among children has increased globally. Selfefficacy is one
of the key determinants of physical activity engagement in children. There is a
need to explore new and innovative interventions to enhance physical activity
self-efficacy that are also acceptable for today’s children.

Design.
Quantitative systematic review.

Data
sources. MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL, PsychInfo, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library
between 1996–2016.

Review
methods. A review was conducted in accordance with the Cochrane Collaboration
guidelines. A systematic search was done in June 2016 by two independent
reviewers according to the eligibility criteria as follows: controlled trial,
comparison of digital game intervention with no game intervention control
condition, participants younger than 18 years of age and reported statistical
analyses of a physical activity self-efficacy outcome measure.

Results.
Altogether, five studies met the eligibility criteria. Four game interventions,
employing three active games and one educational game, had positive effects on
children’s physical activity self-efficacy. An intervention, employing a
game-themed mobile application, showed no intervention effects. The variation
between intervention characteristics was significant and the quality of the
studies was found to be at a medium level.

Conclusion. Although health game interventions
seemingly enhance the physical activity self-efficacy of children and have
potential as a means of increasing physical activity, more rigorous research is
needed to clarify how effective such interventions are in the longer run to
contribute to the development of game-based interventions.