Evaluating the Efficacy of a Serious Game to Deliver Health Education About Invasive Meningococcal Disease: Clustered Randomized Controlled Equivalence Trial

作者：Lauren Bloomfield, Julie Boston, Martin Mašek, Lesley Andrew, Donna Barwood, Amanda Devine · 发表于：JMIR Serious Games · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.2196/60755 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Educational Games and Gamification、Bacterial Infections and Vaccines、Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts

BACKGROUND: Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is a serious, vaccine-preventable infectious disease that can be life-threatening. Teaching adolescents about the early detection and prevention of IMD can be challenging in a school environment, with educators reporting they lack confidence or expertise to cover this in the classroom environment. Professional guest educators are an alternative to cover specialist topics such as IMD; however, time and resourcing constraints can mean that these educators are not always available. Serious games may be an alternative to face-to-face education, where complex health information may be delivered via self-directed gameplay. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to develop a serious game that can replace a face-to-face educator in a classroom setting to educate adolescents aged 12 years to 15 years. This study evaluates the efficacy of the Meningococcal Immunisation Awareness, Prevention and Protection app (MIApp), a serious game designed to replicate the information provided in a 30-minute face-to-face presentation provided by a trained educator. METHODS: This clustered, randomized controlled equivalence trial involved students (Years 7-10) from 6 secondary schools across metropolitan Western Australia who completed pre- and postintervention questionnaires with a follow-up at 3 months postintervention to measure the primary outcome of IMD knowledge acquisition following this self-guided intervention. The findings were compared with changes in an...