Call it Wii-habilitation
Forget Wii parties. Wii-habilitation is where it's at.
The popular Nintendo device for playing games like virtual bowling or tennis has turned into a rehab tool at cutting-edge health care centers around the country. And now researchers at the University of South Carolina are turning the trend into a research project that will study exactly how well the Wii and other games can help stroke victims recover motor skills and overcome a fear of falling after their trauma.
The research is part of a new $2 million grant from philanthropic group the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which will be administered by the University of California Santa Barbara's Health Games Research Center. On Thursday, the two organizations announced that 12 different research projects, including USC's Wii project, will receive funding of up to $200,000 each to study how interactive games can be used to improve public health and the health care profession. The studies will last between one to two years.
"We're trying to find positive ways to use video games," Debra Lieberman, director of the Health Games Research Center, said during a press conference Thursday. "A 'good' game, which help people learn methods of self-improvement, could displace more time-wasting games out there."
The Health Games Research Center was funded about four years ago by an $8.25 million grant from RWJF's Pioneer Portfolio, and the new $2 million grant is the inaugural round of funding by RWJF to establish studies on interactive games for health. It will invest another $2 million on research projects beginning in January 2009.
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