Games Improve Employee Health and Well-Being, May Reduce Health Insurance Premiums for Employers

June 28, 2012 - PRLog -- Contact: Vicki Cohn, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., (914) 740-2100, ext. 2156, vcohn@liebertpub.com

Games Improve Employee Health and Well-Being, May Reduce Health Insurance Premiums for Employers

New Rochelle, NY—Games that promote health can improve the well-being of employees, saving employers direct and indirect health care costs. Employers can more readily reap these benefits by offering game-based services that educate their employees about health and wellness and improve physical and psychological fitness, according to an Editorial in Games for Health Journal a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (http://www.liebertpub.com)  The Editorial is available free on the Games for Health Journal website (http://www.liebertpub.com/g4h).

“Wellness programs using health games have the potential to significantly impact human well-being and the costs, pain, and suffering of preventable illnesses and conditions,” says Games for Health Journal Editor-in-Chief Bill Ferguson, PhD, in the Editorial entitled “Games for Wellness—Impacting the Lives of Employees and the Profits of Employers.” (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/g4h.2012.0023)

Dr. Ferguson highlights the key factors that will drive increased market acceptance of health games and wellness initiatives among employers. The Editorial describes the characteristics of health games for improving wellness and how videogaming can help engage people in their own health, supplement traditional forms of exercise, promote healthy living, and improve patient care.

“The most successful wellness programs incorporate videogames that present themselves as in the service of the player,” states Dr. Ferguson. “These activities enable individuals to engage in things they have personally desired, but were unable to prioritize and accomplish before wellness games.  The result is healthier, happier, and more productive employees - a win-win for employers and their people”

About the Journal
Games for Health Journal (http://www.liebertpub.com/g4h) breaks new ground as the first journal to address this emerging and increasingly important area of health care. The Journal provides a bimonthly forum in print and online for academic and clinical researchers, game designers and developers, health care providers, insurers, and information technology leaders. Articles explore the use of game technology in a variety of clinical applications. These include disease prevention and monitoring, nutrition, weight management, and medication adherence. Gaming can play an important role in the care of patients with diabetes, post-traumatic stress disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, and cognitive, mental, emotional, and behavioral health disorders.

About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (http://www.liebertpub.com) is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking and Telemedicine & e-Health. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available at the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. website (http://www.liebertpub.com).