FEATURE: American psychologist reveals online game to promote Orange Technology
Tainan, Taiwan, Mar. 18, 2013
“Prevention is the only answer.” These were the words of Dr. Isaac Prilleltensky in his keynote speech during the 2013 International Conference on Orange Technologies, March 13, at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), southern Taiwan.
Dr. Prilleltenskty unveiled a newly-invented game, “Wellness in Your Hands,” which created with a virtual world, where players learn about the health and wellness in a fun way and then acquire the ability to lead a happy life.
“I always wanted to build a board game when I was a psychologist, and that was in 1983,” revealed Dr. Prilleltensky when asked about his inspiration behind his and his team’s game entitled “Wellness in Your Hands”.
Fast forwarding to 2013, he revived his dream which is to create games to help people and thus, inventing “Wellness in Your Hands” with the help of software developers.
Dr. Prilleltensky’s interests include the promotion of well-being in individuals and communities. This eventually led to his arrival at NCKU to present his research and findings through his and his team’s effort related to Orange Technology.
Currently, Dr. Prilleltensky, who is the Dean of the School of Education and Development, University of Miami, has been leading an interdisciplinary team with the aim of developing an online multiplayer game to promote health and wellness in different domains of life.
His and his team’s effort has been seen as a creative and innovative to help promote the concept of Orange Technology.
Presenting his keynote speech and his findings entitled “Wellness in Your Hands: The Development of Games for the Promotion of Well-Being”, Dr. Prilleltensky gave the audience some insights into why prevention is the key to promoting health and wellness.
He explained that being unwell can incur two financial costs such as major diseases and also human costs such as bankruptcy, child abuse and anxiety. The total costs of being unwell in America alone have reached trillions US dollars, indicating the serious consequences of being unwell.
“This is why prevention is better than cure,” explained Dr. Prilleltensky. Based on statistics during his presentation, he showed that the highest rate of return of human capital can occur when investment on prevention is made as early as possible in human life.
To direct audience to the lack of emphasis on prevention, historical figures in major Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries including U.S.A. and the Netherlands revealed that most money were spent on treating illness but very little money were invested on prevention. The highest percentage of funds spent on prevention was 8%, which was achieved by the Canadian government.
All these facts and figures have led Dr. Prilleltensky to the idea of promoting health and wellness through prevention by using the game approach.
To differentiate the game he developed from other games, Prilleltensky emphasized on the difference between “Wellness in Your Hands” and traditional games, where traditional games focuses mainly on fun while “Wellness in Your Hands” provided both happiness and wellness to users.
“Wellness in Your Hands” is a game created with a virtual world, where players will learn about health and wellness in six domains of life, or I COPPE - Interpersonal, Community, Occupational, Physical, Psychological and Economic Well-being, Dr. Prilleltenskty added.
To further explain these domains, Dr. Prilleltensky presented a series of live demonstrations and videos which showed the interface of the game and also explained how the game works to help users learn about health and wellness in a fun and interactive way.
Also, a feasibility study involving 90 people in four different groups was conducted by Dr. Prilleltensky and his team, demonstrating that promoting health and wellness using the online multiplayer game approach is showing positive signs of success in the future.
This result further enhances the potential of Orange Technology in the world as happiness, health and well-being are fast becoming the important elements all over the world, according to Prilleltensky.
As he ended his keynote speech, Dr. Prilleltensky took time to reveal his expectations for the 2013 International Conference on Orange Technologies. “Many (studies presented) are at the pilot stage, which is promising,” he mentioned while trying to explain the outcome of this year’s conference. He hopes that these studies can become reality as the products and services can be implemented and used by the public in the future.
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“Prevention is the only answer.” These were the words of Dr. Isaac Prilleltensky in his keynote speech during the 2013 International Conference on Orange Technologies, March 13, at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), southern Taiwan.
Dr. Prilleltenskty unveiled a newly-invented game, “Wellness in Your Hands,” which created with a virtual world, where players learn about the health and wellness in a fun way and then acquire the ability to lead a happy life.
“I always wanted to build a board game when I was a psychologist, and that was in 1983,” revealed Dr. Prilleltensky when asked about his inspiration behind his and his team’s game entitled “Wellness in Your Hands”.
Fast forwarding to 2013, he revived his dream which is to create games to help people and thus, inventing “Wellness in Your Hands” with the help of software developers.
Dr. Prilleltensky’s interests include the promotion of well-being in individuals and communities. This eventually led to his arrival at NCKU to present his research and findings through his and his team’s effort related to Orange Technology.
Currently, Dr. Prilleltensky, who is the Dean of the School of Education and Development, University of Miami, has been leading an interdisciplinary team with the aim of developing an online multiplayer game to promote health and wellness in different domains of life.
His and his team’s effort has been seen as a creative and innovative to help promote the concept of Orange Technology.
Presenting his keynote speech and his findings entitled “Wellness in Your Hands: The Development of Games for the Promotion of Well-Being”, Dr. Prilleltensky gave the audience some insights into why prevention is the key to promoting health and wellness.
He explained that being unwell can incur two financial costs such as major diseases and also human costs such as bankruptcy, child abuse and anxiety. The total costs of being unwell in America alone have reached trillions US dollars, indicating the serious consequences of being unwell.
“This is why prevention is better than cure,” explained Dr. Prilleltensky. Based on statistics during his presentation, he showed that the highest rate of return of human capital can occur when investment on prevention is made as early as possible in human life.
To direct audience to the lack of emphasis on prevention, historical figures in major Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries including U.S.A. and the Netherlands revealed that most money were spent on treating illness but very little money were invested on prevention. The highest percentage of funds spent on prevention was 8%, which was achieved by the Canadian government.
All these facts and figures have led Dr. Prilleltensky to the idea of promoting health and wellness through prevention by using the game approach.
To differentiate the game he developed from other games, Prilleltensky emphasized on the difference between “Wellness in Your Hands” and traditional games, where traditional games focuses mainly on fun while “Wellness in Your Hands” provided both happiness and wellness to users.
“Wellness in Your Hands” is a game created with a virtual world, where players will learn about health and wellness in six domains of life, or I COPPE - Interpersonal, Community, Occupational, Physical, Psychological and Economic Well-being, Dr. Prilleltenskty added.
To further explain these domains, Dr. Prilleltensky presented a series of live demonstrations and videos which showed the interface of the game and also explained how the game works to help users learn about health and wellness in a fun and interactive way.
Also, a feasibility study involving 90 people in four different groups was conducted by Dr. Prilleltensky and his team, demonstrating that promoting health and wellness using the online multiplayer game approach is showing positive signs of success in the future.
This result further enhances the potential of Orange Technology in the world as happiness, health and well-being are fast becoming the important elements all over the world, according to Prilleltensky.
As he ended his keynote speech, Dr. Prilleltensky took time to reveal his expectations for the 2013 International Conference on Orange Technologies. “Many (studies presented) are at the pilot stage, which is promising,” he mentioned while trying to explain the outcome of this year’s conference. He hopes that these studies can become reality as the products and services can be implemented and used by the public in the future.
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