Evaluation of a ‘serious game’ on nursing student knowledge and uptake of influenza vaccination

Abstract

Background Influenza is a serious global healthcare issue that is associated with between 290,000 to 650,000 deaths annually. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of a ‘serious game’ about influenza, on nursing student attitude, knowledge and uptake of the influenza vaccination. Methods 1306 undergraduate nursing students were invited, via email, to play an online game about influenza between September 2018 and March 2019. 430 nursing students accessed the game and completed an 8-item questionnaire measuring their attitudes to influenza between September 2018 and March 2019. In April 2019, 356 nursing students from this sample completed a follow-up 2-item questionnaire about their uptake of the influenza vaccination. A larger separate 40-item knowledge questionnaire was completed by a year one cohort of 124 nursing students in August 2018 prior to receiving access to the game and then after access to the game had ended, in April 2019. This sample was selected to determine the extent to which the game improved knowledge about influenza amongst a homogenous group. Results In the year preceding this study, 36.7% of the sample received an influenza vaccination. This increased to 47.8% after accessing to the game. Nursing students reported perceived improvements in their knowledge, intention to get the vaccination and intention to recommend the vaccination to their patients after playing the game. Nursing students who completed the 40-item pre- and post-knowledge questionnaire scored an average of 68.6% before receiving access to the game and 85.2% after. Using Paired T-Tests statistical analysis, it was determined that this 16.6% increase was highly statistically significant (P < 0.001). Conclusions The research highlights that the influenza game can improve knowledge and intention to become vaccinated. This study suggests that improvement in influenza knowledge is likely to encourage more nursing students to receive the influenza vaccination.

Influenza Vaccination Programs for Healthcare Personnel: Organizational Issues and Beyond

“…Gaps in knowledge and misconceptions of HCP about healthcare-associated influenza and influenza vaccine are main barriers for accepting influenza vaccination and complying with recommendations for vaccination [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ]. According to recent studies, vaccine hesitancy among HCP is often associated with low-risk perception, denial of the social benefit of influenza vaccination, low social pressure, lack of perceived behavioral control, negative attitude toward vaccines, not having been previously vaccinated against influenza, not having previously had influenza, knowledge gaps about influenza, issues of accessibility to vaccination services, and socio-demographic characteristics [ 36 ].…”

“…Most countries globally rely on recommendations to vaccinate HCP against influenza [ 17 , 47 ]. However, after decades of implementation of voluntary vaccination policies in several countries, vaccination coverage rates rarely exceed 60.5% in almost all countries [ 10 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. A survey conducted by WHO in 2014–2015 reported a median of 29.5% influenza vaccine uptake among HCP in 26 European Region countries [ 22 ].…”

Simulação virtual por meio de um serious game sobre segurança do paciente: um estudo experimental

“…Na enfermagem os serious games tem sido utilizado em diversos contextos no cenário educacional e tem proporcionado uma experiência virtual ao jogador com experiência concretas e ativas próximas a vivência real (CHANG et al, 2019;HARA et al, 2021). Na enfermagem estes serious games são utilizados para diversas finalidades contendo diversos temas como: vacinação da gripe (MITCHELL et al, 2021), comunicação na enfermagem (HARA et al, 2021), transfusão de sangue (ALOWENI et al, 2021), reanimação em enfermagem (KEYS et al 2020), habilidades de negociação (ZEFFIRO et al, 2020), eletrocardiograma (CHANG et al, 2019 e cuidados com o recém-nascido prematuro (D'AGOSTINI et al, 2020).…”

“…Com a situação da pandemia pelo novo coronavírus também demonstrou ser um recurso essencial para o uso de metodologias ativa para atividades online, visto que auxilia o processo de ensino-aprendizagem e desenvolvimento de pelo estudante de enfermagem (MITCHELL et al, 2021; Na literatura já existem evidências (ANDERSEN et al 2020;CANTERO-LÓPEZ et al, 2021;GOMES et al 2020;LEE;MORSE, 2019;NODARI et al, 2020;ORTEGA et al, 2020;PRICE;SHINN, 2020), que demonstram que as atividades de simulação, recursos tecnológicos e os módulos de aprendizagem online melhoram as competências de segurança dos estudantes de enfermagem.…”

“…Os avanços recentes das TICS têm levado à implementação de ambientes virtuais realistas, o uso de serious games e até mesmo simulações com realidade virtual aumentada (ARNAB et al, 2014) ampliando o repertório dos docentes para o uso das TDE. Estes avanços tem permitido a implementação de ambientes virtuais realistas e com propósitos de atividades de simulação, no qual os jogadores podem vivenciar, adquirir e praticar habilidades de acordo com os objetivos educacionais através de diversos paradigmas pedagógicos (ARNAB et al, 2014;MITCHELL et al, 2021).…”