X-Match: a Serious Gaming Pilot for HIV/STI Prevention Directed at Urban Young People (14–19) in the Netherlands
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Abstract
Background:
Using the Intervention mapping protocol, the Public Health Service Rotterdam developed an interactive serious game for the mobile phone and the Internet. The innovative intervention, called X-Match, was developed in collaboration with STI/AIDS Netherlands, Waag Society and Maastricht University, in order to improve the interaction competence regarding sexual health of urban youth in the age of fourteen to nineteen years.
Objective:
The development of an experimental intervention to improve the interaction competence regarding sexual health of urban young people in the age of fourteen to nineteen years by exploring the new possibilities of serious gaming to reach this goal.
Methods:
X-Match was developed in cooperation with peers of an online youth community website: Partypeeps2000. While playing the game, participants communicate about love, relationships and sexuality. Communication starts through SMS and continues on the X-Match.nl website. Participants can ‘match’ with each other and at the highest level of the game they will become a ‘Sexpert’. Participants for the pilot were recruited at secondary Vocational Education and Training (VET) institutes in The Hague (N=198, intervention site) and Rotterdam (N=315, control site).
Results:
The intervention was played by 43.2% of the students in the Hague. Participants showed to have rather short interest and drop out rates during the experiment was high. Due to high drop-out, insufficient results are available to draw conclusions whether the intervention was effective or not. Our evaluation showed that Integration of YouTube movies and comparison of opinions on slightly provocative statements was promising to extend interest.
For successful implementation, X-Match will be improved at those points that caused drop-out, and promising elements will be elaborated. ‘Ten lessons learned’ will be used for the development of serious games in the future.
Conclusion:
Experimental pilot interventions to explore the new possibilities of the internet for prevention are required. Serious gaming can be interesting especially for young people. Evaluation of these highly innovative experiments is a need. Evaluation showed that parts of X-Match are very promising but other elements have to be replaced.
Next to improvement of the interaction competence itself, promotion of the intervention, extending the youth’ interest for the game and lowering drop out rates for the effect evaluation are the major topics for further development of serious games.
Using the Intervention mapping protocol, the Public Health Service Rotterdam developed an interactive serious game for the mobile phone and the Internet. The innovative intervention, called X-Match, was developed in collaboration with STI/AIDS Netherlands, Waag Society and Maastricht University, in order to improve the interaction competence regarding sexual health of urban youth in the age of fourteen to nineteen years.
Objective:
The development of an experimental intervention to improve the interaction competence regarding sexual health of urban young people in the age of fourteen to nineteen years by exploring the new possibilities of serious gaming to reach this goal.
Methods:
X-Match was developed in cooperation with peers of an online youth community website: Partypeeps2000. While playing the game, participants communicate about love, relationships and sexuality. Communication starts through SMS and continues on the X-Match.nl website. Participants can ‘match’ with each other and at the highest level of the game they will become a ‘Sexpert’. Participants for the pilot were recruited at secondary Vocational Education and Training (VET) institutes in The Hague (N=198, intervention site) and Rotterdam (N=315, control site).
Results:
The intervention was played by 43.2% of the students in the Hague. Participants showed to have rather short interest and drop out rates during the experiment was high. Due to high drop-out, insufficient results are available to draw conclusions whether the intervention was effective or not. Our evaluation showed that Integration of YouTube movies and comparison of opinions on slightly provocative statements was promising to extend interest.
For successful implementation, X-Match will be improved at those points that caused drop-out, and promising elements will be elaborated. ‘Ten lessons learned’ will be used for the development of serious games in the future.
Conclusion:
Experimental pilot interventions to explore the new possibilities of the internet for prevention are required. Serious gaming can be interesting especially for young people. Evaluation of these highly innovative experiments is a need. Evaluation showed that parts of X-Match are very promising but other elements have to be replaced.
Next to improvement of the interaction competence itself, promotion of the intervention, extending the youth’ interest for the game and lowering drop out rates for the effect evaluation are the major topics for further development of serious games.
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