from game to gain: the effect of gamification on students' sporting capital in health-promoting schools

Background: the increasing prevalence of physical inactivity among adolescents has raised major health concerns worldwide. schools, as key social institutions, play a crucial role in fostering lifelong active lifestyles. this study investigated whether a gamified physical education (pe) intervention within health-promoting schools (hps) could enhance students' sporting capital.methods: in this quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest control group design, 244 iranian students (aged 13-16) were randomly allocated into four groups; two control groups of boys/girls and two experimental groups of boys/girls. a six-week gamified intervention was implemented in experimental groups. research tools included a 25-item sporting capital questionnaire (scq), the perceived parental sport support scale (ppssc) and the sense of socialization scale (sss), administered at week 0 (pre-test) and week 7 (post-test). statistical tests comprised assumption checks (shapiro–wilk, levene), baseline comparisons (independent samples t-tests, χ²), within-group analyses (paired t-tests), between-group comparisons using ancova with pretest scores as covariates, interaction exploration via multiple regression, and reporting of effect sizes (cohen's d, partial η²).results: significant improvements were observed in the experimental groups as compared with the control groups across all three dimensions of sporting capital. for example, post-test scores for sporting capital increased from 63.1±5.4 to 74.8±6.2 in girls and from 61.5±5.6 to 72.9±6.4 in boys. gender did not moderate the intervention effect (p=0.198), but perceived parental support positively influenced outcomes (p=0.004). also, sense of socialization had a weak moderating effect (p=0.057).conclusions: gamified physical education (pe), embedded in health-promoting schools (hps) contexts and supported by families, can effectively build students' sporting capital beyond short-term motivation. schools should adopt structured gamified modules, empower teachers with training, and engage parents to strengthen students' commitment to active lifestyles.