Help Me Help Myself - Using Play to Empower Players and Motivate Pro-Health Behavior

Elena Bertozzi

Associate Professor, Game Design & DevelopmentQuinnipiac University

Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Director, The Engender Games Group Lab

Evolution Early attempts – Overstated potential

and efficacy - Mathblaster Lack of rigorous outcomes assessment Underestimation of cost and utility Generally negative perception of

videogames

Swing of Pendulum Success of Foldit, Eyewire, growth of

different models of game use Games for Health, Games for Change,

Serious Games, etc. conferences and journals

Jane McGonigal – Games can change the world/ Jukko

That Dragon Cancer

Lessons Learned

Narrow focused Goals

Game mechanics and rewards must reinforce desired behavior change.

Design assessment into structure

Assessments should be integrated into game structure and iteratively tested during development

Collaborations with practitioners dealing with intractable problems

EGG + Dr. Dilys Walker, founder of Pronto International — Emergency Birth Game

Field test with midwives in rural Mexico

Midwives in Morelos, Mexico

Develop a game to increase flu vaccination rates in immigrant and lower income pediatric patients

EGG + Dr. Leonard Krilovat Children's Medical Center at Winthrop University Hospital on Long Island

Flu Busters!

Flu Busters!Explain how the vaccine works and motivate kids to get the shot.

Some work is being done to train HCW :

Similar issues – measurable outcomes

no iterative testing on target populationonly 27% of children demonstrated increased understanding of vaccine82% of those who played the game got vaccinated the same dayHistorically only 42% of same population got vaccine.

Hot! Horny! Healthy!(funded by Grand Challenges in Global Health)

– IOS, Android phone issues

Communication with platform

Explicit content Players seeking

different goals than researchers

Model works and is very motivating

Start with technology

Lessons Learned

Have it Her Way and Friends Don’t Let Friends-get Knocked-Up

Path to a successful game collaboration

Clear definition of goals: specific outcomes, type of behavior change, scope of project, technology required for distributing game, gathering data, publishing results.

Let the game team develop the game: iterative testing at numerous stages to determine cultural appropriateness (content, language and delivery), if the game is compelling, and ensure network for distribution works.

Members of target audience should be involved from the beginning of the process. Testing should be with representative sample. Clarify how participants will be recruited and how they will be able to access and play game.

Expect problems – they are inevitable

Budgets – Low Cost Interventions Academic setting allows us to use

student/ faculty teams and resources 2D graphics – shorter development

cycle, easier to modify in response to feedback

Create using Unity or HTML5 for widespread deployment all devices

New opportunities for integration with gamification.

Budgets

Small phone games can be developed for $20,000 + based on complexity of interactions

Midwife training game was ca. $30,000 HHH grant was a $100,000 award included

teams on 3 continents Games are not necessarily the best solution to

the problem so it is important to assess whether or not the problem can be approached this way.

Resources Graafland, M., Dankbaar, M., Mert, A., Lagro, J., De Wit-Zuurendonk, L., Schuit, S., …

Schijven, M. (2014). How to Systematically Assess Serious Games Applied to Health Care. JMIR Serious Games, 2(2), e11

Francesco Ricciardi and Lucio Tommaso De Paolis, “A Comprehensive Review of Serious Games in Health Professions,” International Journal of Computer Games Technology, vol. 2014, Article ID 787968, 11 pages, 2014. doi:10.1155/2014/787968

Questions?elena.bertozzi@quinnipiac.edu