A Systematic Review on Improving Health Literacy in Rural Africa Using Mobile Serious Games

Ouedraogo, Ismaila; Some, Michel J; Benedikter, Roland; Diallo, Gayo

doi:10.3233/shti220681

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 3 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…But it should be notated that health literacy levels variated from country to country, from 8.51% in Niger to 63.89% in Namibia (11). Ehealth solutions, linked to the increasing penetration of mobile technology, contribute to overcoming health literacy challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa (12).…”

Section: Health Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Using serious mobile games to improve health literacy in rural Sub-Saharan Africa: A literature review

Ouedraogo

Some

Oyibo

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The African gaming industry is beginning to flourish as a result of a rise in the availability of inexpensive phones and the number of mobile phone subscribers. It has enabled the development and implementation of mobile serious games to promote healthy behavior change in rural communities. This paper examines the use of mobile serious games in healthcare education, with a particular focus on those designed to increase health literacy in rural Africa. Identifying and addressing the design challenges and issues faced by people living in rural African communities through the use of persuasive mobile games can promote behavior change among these underserved communities. We used PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar and manual search to identify relevant studies published from 2011 to July 2021. The literature review highlights how the identified challenges affect the implementation of persuasive strategies, suggests design solutions for overcoming them, and discusses how persuasive games can be tailored to suit the target rural African populations. Some of the identified challenges are technical in nature (e.g., access to electricity and internet connectivity), while others are not (e.g., language diversity and low literacy). As the number of serious games for healthcare education and awareness continues to increase, it is essential for the successful implementation of inclusive mobile health technologies in rural Africa to identify and address the specific challenges faced by underserved populations such as rural African communities.

show abstract

Section: Health Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Using serious mobile games to improve health literacy in rural Sub-Saharan Africa: A literature review

Ouedraogo

Some

Oyibo

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The drive is to elucidate the benefits and cons of serious games and the mechanisms underlying the impacts of serious games. Advantages of serious games include increased motivation to do work, enhanced learning and increased social bonding among participants (Bergeron, 2008; Breuer & Bente, 2010; Ramachandran et al, 2016). Disadvantages include the possible increased levels of anxiety and aggression from playing violent games, but this effect is still under debate (Susi et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serious games for environmental education

Tan

Nurul‐Asna

2023

Integrative Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Serious games are increasingly popular in multiple fields, including education and environmental engagement. We conducted a systematic review to examine the reasons for this increasing popularity, the features of successful serious games and the current trend of serious games application in environmental education. Our systematic search revealed 56 records of papers (from years 2009 to 2023) on the use of serious games for environmental education. Thirty-five were published in the recent 5 years reflecting a growing interest in this area. The games were aimed at imparting knowledge (N = 28), changing attitude (N = 28) and changing behaviour (N = 19). Reasons for the increased application of serious games include the raising awareness on serious games and growing investment in serious games development and research, as well as better technological access through mobile devices. Successful serious games exhibit the following features: an immersive experience, meaningful engagement, a learn-by-doing involvement, simulation of real-world environmental problems, autonomy in game decisions and the presence of a guiding host. This review also revealed two categories of digital serious games: computer games (N = 14) and mobile apps (N = 11), and three categories of physical games: board games (N = 6), card game (N = 1) and role-playing games (N = 2). The gaps include (1) the lack of in-game experience data that limits our understanding of the impacts of commercial games, (2) variation in game experience and conservation experience among participants and how this translates to the impacts of serious games, and (3) lack of understanding of how the effects of serious games with high complexities on adults learning. Serious games are increasingly being digitised and moving towards location-based games, alternate reality, augmented reality and virtual reality. These games can facilitate interaction between learners and the natural environment, and in turn strengthen environmental awareness and appreciation.

show abstract

“…One of its great advantages of using SGs is the creation of motivational factors that have significant learning for students (Naul and Liu, 2020) (Meij, Veldkamp and Leemkuil, 2020). On the other hand, there are authors who affirm that SGs help students to develop critical thinking skills (Madani, Pierce and Mirchi, 2017), improve retention (Bergeron, 2008), increase creativity (Riedel & Hauge, 2011), develop problem-solving skills and decision making (Pacheco-Velazquez, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proposal for a Participatory Methodology for the Creation of Serious Games

Pacheco-Velazquez,

Bester,

Rabago-Mayer

et al. 2023

ECGBL

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We are facing a new generation of students, who are not only looking for theoretical knowledge, but also want learning to be practical, interesting, and fun. They request didactic techniques that allow them to have a more prominent role in their learning, models that are not focused on teaching, but on learning. They are students with different characteristics because they were born in the digital age. Technology has changed the way they relate to the world. They are not comfortable with respect to traditional models and try to incorporate new technologies into all aspects of their lives. Within the educational field, new technologies are seen as a tool that facilitates learning and develops skills in students. From this perspective, the development of simulators and serious games are now used as a strategy to facilitate learning. The advantages of using a serious game seem evident, they help develop critical thinking, encourage creativity, increase problem-solving skills, increase retention, among other benefits. However, when games are not well designed, they lose both their appeal and their playful essence. One reason for these problems is the absence of the application of any design methodology, and that many of these problems come from the requirements definition phase. Specifically, most of the problems occur in the game design phase, where there is a deficiency in the writing of the requirements requested by the teachers. When the requirements are vague, or ambiguous, experts in the development area are unable to interpret the interaction design, the game mechanics, or the way in which users will interact with the software. This article aims to discuss the specifications and requirements that instructional designers and developers should address before migrating to project development, implementation, or evaluation. This article is important because it analyzes the need to establish clear requirements and objectives that will facilitate the creation of serious games in education.

show abstract

A Systematic Review on Improving Health Literacy in Rural Africa Using Mobile Serious Games

Cited by 4 publications

References 3 publications

Using serious mobile games to improve health literacy in rural Sub-Saharan Africa: A literature review

Using serious mobile games to improve health literacy in rural Sub-Saharan Africa: A literature review

Serious games for environmental education

Proposal for a Participatory Methodology for the Creation of Serious Games

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About