Dataset Information

A Mobile Game (Safe City) Designed to Promote Children's Safety Knowledge and Behaviors: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Children have high levels of curiosity and eagerness to explore. This makes them more vulnerable to danger and hazards, and they thus have a higher risk of injury. Safety education such as teaching safety rules and tips is vital to prevent children from injuries. Although game-based approaches have the potential to capture children's attention and sustain their interest in learning, whether these new instructional approaches are more effective than traditional approaches in delivering safety messages to children remains uncertain. OBJECTIVE:The aim of this study is to test the effectiveness of a game-based intervention in promoting safety knowledge and behaviors among Hong Kong school children in Grades 4-6. It will also examine the potential effect of the game-based intervention on these children's functioning and psychosocial difficulties. METHODS:This study comprises the development of a city-based role-playing game Safe City, where players are immersed as safety inspectors to prevent dangerous situations and promote safety behavior in a virtual city environment. The usability and acceptability tests will be conducted with children in Grades 4-6 who will trial the gameplay on a mobile phone. Adjustments will be made based on their feedback. A 4-week randomized controlled trial with children studying in Grades 4-6 in Hong Kong elementary schools will be conducted to assess the effectiveness of the Safe City game-based intervention. In this trial, 504 children will play Safe City, and 504 children will receive traditional instructional materials (electronic and printed safety information). The evaluation will be conducted using both child self-report and parent proxy-report data. Specifically, child safety knowledge and behaviors will be assessed by a questionnaire involving items on knowledge and behaviors, respectively, for home safety, road safety, and sport-related safety; child functioning will be assessed by PedsQL Generic Core Scales; and psychosocial difficulties will be assessed by the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire. These questionnaires will be administered at 3 time points: before, 1 month, and 3 months after the intervention. Game usage statistics will also be reviewed. RESULTS:This project was funded in September 2019. The design and development of the Safe City game are currently under way. Recruitment and data collection will begin from September 2020 and will continue up to March 1, 2021. Full analysis will be conducted after the end of the data collection period. CONCLUSIONS:If the Safe City game is found to be an effective tool to deliver safety education, it could be used to promote safety in children in the community and upgraded to incorporate more health-related topics to support education and empowerment for the larger public. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04096196; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04096196. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID):PRR1-10.2196/17756.

SUBMITTER: Wong RS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7320307 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A Mobile Game (Safe City) Designed to Promote Children's Safety Knowledge and Behaviors: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Wong Rosa S RS Tung Keith Ts KT Wong Hiu Tung HT Ho Frederick Kw FK Wong Hing Sang HS Fu King-Wa KW Pong Ting Chuen TC Chan Ko Ling KL Chow Chun Bong CB Ip Patrick P

JMIR research protocols 20200612 6

<h4>Background</h4>Children have high levels of curiosity and eagerness to explore. This makes them more vulnerable to danger and hazards, and they thus have a higher risk of injury. Safety education such as teaching safety rules and tips is vital to prevent children from injuries. Although game-based approaches have the potential to capture children's attention and sustain their interest in learning, whether these new instructional approaches are more effective than traditional approaches in de ...[more]

PMID: 32530436

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Project description:BackgroundA Mobile Safety Center (MSC) provides safety resources to families to prevent pediatric injury. The primary objective of this study was to assess the impact of an MSC on home safety behaviors.MethodsWe conducted a prospective observational study with 50 parents and guardians recruited at community events attended by an MSC. Participants completed a pre-test assessing demographics and home safety behaviors prior to participating in the MSC's home safety educational program. We conducted follow-up with participants 4 weeks (follow-up 1) and 6 months (follow-up 2) after their visit to the MSC to reassess home safety behaviors. We used descriptive statistics in addition to Friedman, Wilcoxon sum-rank, and Fisher's exact testing to analyze respondent demographics and changes in home safety practices. Friedman and Wilcoxon sum-rank testing was performed only for participants who completed all surveys.ResultsOf our 50 participants, 29 (58%) completed follow-up 1, 30 (60%) completed follow-up 2, and 26 (52%) completed both. Participants were more likely to have a fire-escape plan at follow-up 1 than on the pre-test (p = 0.014). They were also more likely to have the Poison Control Hotline number accessible in their cellphone or near a home phone at follow-up 1 compared to the pre-test (p = 0.002) and follow-up 2 compared to the pre-test (p < 0.001). Families with at least one household member who smoked or used e-cigarettes at any point during the study (n = 16 for the total population, n = 9 for those who completed both surveys) were less likely to have more than two smoke detectors installed at home during the pre-test (p = 0.049). However, this significantly changed across timepoints (p = 0.018), and while 44.4% reported more than two detectors during the pre-test, 88.9% reported this at both follow-ups.ConclusionsHome safety education through an MSC positively changed some reported safety behaviors and maintained these changes at long-term follow-up. By encouraging the adoption of better home safety practices, education at an MSC may decrease pediatric injury rates.

Project description:BackgroundEvidence supports the effectiveness of serious games in health education, but little is known about their effects on the psychosocial well-being of children in the general population.ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the potential of a mobile game-based safety education program in improving children's safety and psychosocial outcomes.MethodsSafe City is a mobile roleplaying game specifically designed to educate children in Hong Kong about safety. This randomized controlled trial included 340 children in grades 4 through 6. Intervention arm participants (n=170) were instructed to play the Safe City mobile game for 4 weeks, whereas control arm participants (n=170) received a safety booklet. All participants completed a survey on safety knowledge and behaviors and psychosocial problems at baseline (T1), 1 month postintervention (T2), and 3 months postintervention (T3). Cumulative game scores and mini-game performance were analyzed as a proxy for the extent of exposure to the game. Outcome data were analyzed using 2-sample 2-tailed t tests to compare mean change from T1 to T2 and to T3 for intervention versus control arm participants. The association of game use with outcome changes postintervention was analyzed using generalized additive models.ResultsNo significant differences were found in mean changes between the intervention and control arms. However, use analyses showed that higher game scores were associated with improvements in safe behavior (P=.03) and internalizing problems (P=.01) at T3. Matching and Spot the Danger mini-game performance significantly predicted improvements in safety knowledge at T2 and T3.ConclusionsAnalysis of use has shown that playing the Safe City mobile game can result in significant improvements in safety knowledge and reductions in unsafe behavior and internalizing problems. These findings provide evidence for the positive impact of serious games on psychological and social well-being, highlighting the potential of technology-driven interventions to assist children in learning about safety and preventing injuries.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.org NCT04096196; https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT04096196.International registered report identifier (irrid)RR2-10.2196/17756.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Cultural safety encourages practitioners to examine how their own culture shapes their clinical practice and to respect their patients' worldviews. Lack of cultural safety in health care is linked to stigma and discrimination toward culturally diverse patients. Training in cultural safety poses considerable challenges. It is an unappealing subject for medical students and requires behavioral changes in their clinical practice. Game jams-collaborative workshops to create and play games-have recently shown effectiveness and engaging potential in university-level education. OBJECTIVE:The trial aims to determine if medical students' participation in a game jam to design an educational game on cultural safety is more effective than a standard lesson on cultural safety in terms of change in the students' self-reported intended patient-oriented behavior. METHODS:A parallel-group, 2-arm randomized controlled trial with a 1:1 allocation ratio will randomize 340 medical students and 60 medical interns (n=400) at the Faculty of Medicine at La Sabana University, Colombia (170 students and 30 medical interns to each arm). The intervention group will participate in an 8-hour game jam comprising (1) a preliminary lecture on cultural safety and game design, (2) a game building session where groups of students will create educational games about cultural safety, and (3) a play-test session in which students will play and learn from each other's games. The control group will receive a standard lesson, including a 2-hour lecture on cultural safety, followed by a 6-hour workshop to create posters about cultural safety. Web-based self-administered 30-item Likert-type questionnaires will assess cultural safety self-reported intended behavior before, immediately after, and 6 months after the intervention. An intention-to-treat approach will use a t-test with 95% CIs to determine the significance of the effect of the intervention, including within- and between-group comparisons. The qualitative most significant change technique will explore the impact of the intervention on the clinical experience of the students. RESULTS:Study enrollment began in July 2019. A total of 531 students completed the baseline survey and were randomized. Data collection is expected to be complete by July 2020, and results are expected in October 2020. The study was approved by the institutional review board of the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University (May 31, 2017) and by the Subcommittee for Research of the Faculty of Medicine at La Sabana University (approval number 445). CONCLUSIONS:The research will develop participatory methods in game-based learning co-design that might be relevant to other subjects. Ultimately, it should foster improved cultural safety skills for medical students, improve the quality of health services for diverse cultural groups, and contribute to enhanced population health. Game learning may provide an innovative solution to a long-standing and neglected problem in medical education, helping to meet the educational expectations and needs of millennial medical students. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ISRCTN Registry ISRCTN14261595; http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN14261595.

Dataset Information

A Mobile Game (Safe City) Designed to Promote Children's Safety Knowledge and Behaviors: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Publications

A Mobile Game (Safe City) Designed to Promote Children's Safety Knowledge and Behaviors: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

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