Face-the-Case Achieving health literacy through game play.
Transcript of Face-the-Case Achieving health literacy through game play.
Face-the-Case
Achieving health literacy through game play
Overview
Face-the-Case is a quest in which the player collects the health literacy skills and uses them to solve a large set of realistic health and human services case studies
It is a role-playing game similar to A Tale in the Desert
Contains elements similar to elements in Final Fantasy X and Age of Empires
Teaches undergraduate nursing and social work students health literary skills in a role-playing environment that is engaging, challenging and visually interesting
Game World
Skill shops (3) Collaboration Café Case room Bling boutique High score board
Game Elements
Player avatar Skills objects (three types) Case studies Companion collaborators Skill dollars (for buying skills) Bling bucks (for accessorizing avatar) PDA (contains inventory, displays status
info)
Skills
Language specific fluency
Aphasic
Intubated person
Manages information
Hearing impairment
Refines search strategy
Language barrier
Retrieves information in person
Communicate with anxious person
Retrieves information online
Ability to assess client's health literacy
Communicate with confused person
Effectively searches for information
Knows of community support services
Communicate with angry person
Chooses appropriate methods of information retrieval
Identifies most major languages in service area
Comforting
Find information
Identifies most major languages in service area
Posture
Validates understanding of information through discourse
Seeks other's beliefsTouch
Compares new knowledge with prior knowledge
Expresses biasesEye contactSynthesizes information to create new concept
Self identifies ethnic groupBody languageApplies criteria to variety of information sources
Recognizes own belief systemConvey instructionsSummarizes main concept
Cultural CompetencyCommunicationInformation
Compose letters, memos and notes
Create patient instructions
Case Studies in Health & Human Services
Mr. Lonely Heart is unable to drive and stuck at home. He needs transportation and diet advice.
Mrs. Bedraggin is a Spanish speaking mother of four young children, husband works two jobs, needs help getting children ready to attend public school, relief from stress associated with child care, immigration, etc.
Miss Hungry is a young single college student with active eating disorder, escalating health problems are beginning to affect school, social life. She needs nutritional counseling, help with seeking health services, etc.
Mr. All Alone is a recently widowed elderly man who is unable to read all but most basic signage, needs to renew driver's license, and needs help with legal matters associated with wife's death.
Other cases will include topics like husband's in-laws, a bad diagnosis, foster children, job loss, temporary disability, substance abuse, child abuse, relocation, nursing home placement, minor injury, bullying at school, poor school performance, no health insurance
Companion Collaborators
Each collaborator will have a predefined set of skills relevant to game
Collaborators will include a lawyer, Spanish speaker, pediatrician, psychiatrist, dietician, exercise therapist, librarian, social security clerk, ESL tutor, Russian speaker, communication specialist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, respiratory therapist, baby sitter, driver, Arabic speaker, and job counselor
PDA
Holds inventory and status information Inventory consists of skill objects Status includes
Case history (solved and unsolved)Skill dollar countBling buck count
Game Activities & Events
Player creates profile and avatar (one time activity) Game presents one randomly selected case study to player Player reviews case study Player (optionally) acquires skills
Buy skills in skill shops Successfully complete mini-games to earn new skills
Player (optionally) chooses one companion collaborator Player “faces the case”
Selects cluster of skills needed to solve active Applies skill cluster to active case Receives rewards for solving case or feedback/hints in the
event that case is not solved successfully Player (optionally) buys bling to accessorize avatar
Mini-Games
In addition to buying skills, players will be able to play mini-games within the larger game to earn new skills
Examples of what a player will accomplish in a mini-game: Identify outward manifestations of beliefs (i.e. clothes,
jewelry, food, etc) Identify characteristics of healthcare need (i.e. Native
American, disabled, educated, wealthy) Speak a foreign language Identify biased statements Recognize relationship among concepts (i.e. broader,
narrower, contradictory, complementary, etc.) Identify agreement/disagreement between concepts Pick out evaluation criteria from a list
Narrative Structure
The narrative structure fits nicely into Campbell’s1 three-part “hero’s journey” metaphor : The Departure: The hero (i.e. the player) is presented with a
case study, which is a call for help The Initiation: The hero goes about collecting the skills and
choosing a companion collaborator that will assist him in solving the problem presented in the case study
The Return: The hero chooses the skill he thinks will help him solve the case and then applies this skill cluster to the case. If successful, he is rewarded with bling bucks. If not successful, he receives hints that will help him when he returns to this case
The player repeats this journey over and over, solving new cases and revisiting old cases that he was initially unable to solve. As the journey is repeated, skills (and the knowledge of how to apply those skills) accumulate and cases become easier to solve
1. J. Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton University Press. (1972)
Game Play Sequence
Buy Bling
CommunicationsMarket
CollaborationCafe
InfoEmporium
CultureBazaar
ReviewCase Study
LoginFace the
Case
Sample Game Play – Steps 1 & 2
Step 1: Player logs into game through a web browser
Step 2: If first time in game, player creates an avatar
Sample Game Play – Step 3
Step 3: Game presents player with a randomly selected case study
Mr. All Alone is a recently widowed elderly man who is unable to read all but most basic signage, needs to renew his driver's license, and needs help with legal matters associated with wife's death.
Sample Game Play – Step 4
Step 4: Player enters the Information Emporium and buys two skills
Knows of community support services
Chooses appropriate methods of information retrieval
Validates understanding of information through discourse
Sample Game Play – Step 5
Step 5: Player enters the Culture Bazaar and buys two skills
Create patient instructions
Knows of community support services
Sample Game Play – Step 6
Step 6: Player enters the Communications Market and buys one skill
Able to compose letters, memos and notes
Sample Game Play – Step 7
Step 7: Player enters the Collaboration Café and chooses a companion
Lawyer
Sample Game Play – Steps 8 & 9
Mr. All Alone is a recently widowed elderly man who is unable to read all but most basic signage, needs to renew his driver's license, and needs help with legal matters associated with wife's death.
Select a cluster of skills from inventory and apply to active case
Sample Game Play – Steps 10 & 11
Player receives feedback If case is successfully solved, player receives
reward (bling bucks) If case is not successfully solved, player receives
hints/instruction on how to solve the case Player optionally enters Bling Boutique and buys
accessories for his avatar
Audience
1,200 undergraduate allied health students (e.g. future nurses and social workers)
Game is aimed at a population of pre-professionals whose course of study is preparing them for careers in which they will interact with a diverse population of patients/clients who have complex and diverse health and human services needs
The Production Team Content specialist: Librarian, faculty from Institute for
Innovation in Health and Human Services Learning specialist: JMU instructional technologist Production manager: JMU software developer Graphic artist: outsourced, JMU students Animation specialist: outsourced, JMU students Sound: JMU’s Center for Instructional Technology Narrative: JMU Health Literacy faculty Programing: JMU software developer, JMU computer
science majors Play testers: JMU nursing students Assessment: Faculty from JMU’s Center for
Assessment & Research
Technologies
Macromedia Flash object running in a web browser (graphical game interface)
SQL Server 2005 Express (database for storing user profiles and history, skill sets, case histories, etc.)
.NET Web Services (communication between Flash object and database)
.NET Web Application for managing database content (adding new skills, case studies, etc.)
Expected Outcome
Expected outcome: Game players will demonstrate increasingly high levels of cultural awareness, improved communication skills, and improved information literacy skills within a variety of settings
Assessment: To be determined. Challenge: Build fun into the game so that students are
motivated to play Game must be visually engaging Skill mechanics must be further developed so that game
does not rely to a large extent on “buying skills” Solving cases should involve combining skills in interesting
and challenging ways
Is it Fun?
1 Tooth extraction
2 Airport security
3 Faculty meeting
4 Potluck lunch
5 Day at the water park