PROCEE: a PROstate Cancer Evaluation and Education serious game for African Caribbean men

Abstract

Purpose -Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men in the UK. Black men are in a higher prostate cancer risk group possibly due to inherent genetic factors. The purpose of this paper is to introduce PROstate Cancer Evaluation and Education (PROCEE), an innovative serious game aimed at providing prostate cancer information and risk evaluation to black African-Caribbean men. Design/methodology/approach -PROCEE has been carefully co-designed with prostate cancer experts, prostate cancer patients and members of the black African-Caribbean community in order to ensure that it meets the real needs and expectations of the target audience. Findings -During the co-design process, the users defined an easy to use and entertaining game which can effectively raise awareness, inform users about prostate cancer and their risk, and encourage symptomatic men to seek medical attention in a timely manner. Originality/value -During focus group evaluations, users embraced the game and emphasised that it can potentially have a positive impact on changing user behaviour among high risk men who are experiencing symptoms and who are reluctant to visit their doctor.

“Our people has got to come to terms with that”: changing perceptions of the digital rectal examination as a barrier to prostate cancer diagnosis in African‐Caribbean men

“…The application provides PC information and evaluates risk based on embedded expert rules for reasoning with symptom data entered by users. During focus group evaluations, users emphasized that it can potentially have a positive impact on changing user behavior among high‐risk men who are experiencing symptoms and who are reluctant to visit the doctor . The majority of men in this study constructed DRE as a barrier; however, a limitation of the study is that the views of the men may not be representative of all African‐Caribbean men.…”

Gamification as an Educational Approach for Oncological Patients: A Systematic Scoping Review

“…The re- Most of the selected articles are primary studies except for an extensive narrative review. The selection consisted of three randomized controlled trials [21][22][23]; one randomized experimental study [24]; two qualitative studies [25,26]; three pilot studies [27][28][29]; one evaluation study [30]; one community advisory board study [31]; and one study with a mixed-method approach [32]. The publication years of the included studies were from 2016 to 2022.…”

“…Most of the studies were from the USA (n = 7) [22][23][24]28,29,31,32]. The remaining studies were conducted in South Korea (n = 2) [21,27], Australia (n = 1) [25], Greece (n = 1) [33], Canada (n = 1) [26], and the UK (n = 1) [30]. All papers were written in English.…”

“…Quantitative studies varied in methodological quality ranging from 20 to 100%, while qualitative studies all showed a percentage of 80. Two articles showed a weak methodological quality with 20% of positive answers [30,31]. Just one study presented a medium quality of 60% [33] (Table 2).…”

“…Other educational approaches that emerged from the included studies are behavior change and simulation. In several serious games, the oncological patient simulated, through avatars, the correct behavior in different settings, situations, and health states [21,30]. Behavior modification and decision making were improved through needs and priority identification in patients with cancer [22,29,32].…”