Could a video game help cystic fibrosis patients?

We know games can be good for you, but what if they could do more?

That's a question Health Games Research hopes to answer. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the program announced on Thursday that they've awarded a whopping $2 million in grants to a dozen research teams across the country in an effort to better understand how games can help ease pain and suffering for a variety of illnesses, including cystic fibrosis, stroke and type-2 diabetes.

"Previous studies and clinical trials have shown that well-designed interactive games can significantly improve players' health-related knowledge, skills, behaviors and outcomes," said program director Debra Lieberman in a press release. "The 12 new studies will give us deeper insights into how and why certain game designs are compelling, fun and effective, and for which types of people."

The 12 grantees cover a wide range of health-related issues. Researchers at Cornell University, for instance, seek to improve the eating habits of adolescents using a custom-built mobile phone game. Cystic fibrosis sufferers should keep a sharp eye on news coming out of the University of Vermont, where researchers will study how a video game and breath controller might improve patients' self-care and health maintenance. And a brave team based out of The University of Central Florida will investigate the use of role-playing games in preventing relapse among alcoholics (although if our late-night World of Warcraft booze binges are any indication, good luck!)

Not all of the games included in the research groups are built from scratch, either. A group at the University of Florida will use the Playstation 2 version of Sega's frantic driving game Crazy Taxi to study the visual attention skills of a group of senior citizens, while a team at the University of South Carolina hopes to improve the speed at which post-stroke patients recover motor skills by using Nintendo's Wii and Sony's Eyetoy.

According to Chinwe Onyekere, program officer for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the grants should give a boost to the credibility of the burgeoning field of games and health.

"Health Games Research and this impressive set of grantees will help build the strongest possible evidence to support the growing field of games and health, and maximize its potential to improve the health and health care of all Americans."

More info on the Health Games Research program and the twelve grantees can be found here.

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