Promoting Parent–Child Sexual Health Dialogue with an Intergenerational Game: Parent and Youth Perspectives

Abstract

Objectives: Sexual health discussions between parents and their preadolescent youth can delay sexual debut and increase condom and contraceptive use. However, parents frequently report being uncomfortable talking with their youth about sex, often reporting a lack of self-efficacy and skills to inform and motivate responsible decision making by youth. Intergenerational games may support parent-youth sexual health communication. The purpose of this study was to explore parent and youth perspectives on a proposed intergenerational game designed to increase effective parent-youth sexual health communication and skills training. Materials and Methods: Eight focus groups were conducted: four with parents (n = 20) and four with their 11-14-year-old youth (n = 19), to identify similarities and differences in perspectives on gaming context, delivery channel, content, and design (components, features, and function) that might facilitate dyadic sexual health communication.Results: Participants concurred that a sex education game could improve communication while being responsive to family time constraints. They affirmed the demand for an immersive story-based educational adventure game using mobile platforms and flexible communication modalities. Emergent themes informed the development of a features inventory (including educational and gaming strategies, communication components, channel, and setting) and upper-level program flow to guide future game development. Conclusions: This study supports the potential of a game to be a viable medium to bring a shared dyadic sexual health educational experience to parents and youth that could engage them in a motivationally appealing way to meaningfully impact their sexual health communication and youth sexual risk behaviors.

Benefits and Factors Influencing the Design of Intergenerational Digital Games: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Regarding their capacity to reinforcing family bond, the included studies showed that intergenerational games can generate new conversational topics, promote positive interaction and communication among family member from different generations [24]. Games can create a shared virtual space, where family members can be updated about the daily life of their relatives through in-game actions that are associated with their real-life activities, which can help to strengthen the family ties [19].…”

“…Simply engaging in the game is enough to help draw the focus away from the friction between family members in family interactions. Moreover, a game is perceived as a promising tool to improve positive intergenerational communication on sensitive topics such as sexual health [24].…”

Nurses on the Front Lines

“…One recent study used focus groups with both parents and 11-to-14-year-olds to learn what kind of game features potential users would want in an intergenerational sexual health education game, to be played by parent–child dyads. 63 Nurses can also encourage parents to explore the CDC’s sexual health communication resources (available at www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/parent-guardian-resources/index.htm). …”

Improving Sexual Health Education Programs for Adolescent Students through Game-Based Learning and Gamification

“…In sexual health education, serious games have been acknowledged to be appealing to adolescents as they are attractive, confidential, and convenient, and can avoid the embarrassment or boredom of discussing the issues with teachers or health promotion educators [ 20 , 21 ]. Scholars [ 22 , 23 ] have identified eight characteristics to be considered when designing effective sexual health education games: (1) individual tailoring, (2) goal setting, (3) narrative or storyline, (4) audio-visual effects, (5) interactivity, (6) challenges at each level, (7) rewards, and (8) immediate feedback.…”