Charlotte Hemingway (PhD Student - University of Liverpool/ Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine)

 

The workshop will demonstrate the use of mobile gaming as a two-way method of health communication.

 

 

Workshop Objectives

Understand the design and development process for games for health.

Understand how game analytics can be utilised to obtain data from key populations and assess the uptake and use of the intervention.

 

Explore the use of digital games to address health challenges in resource poor settings and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

 

 

Workshop Activities

1.Demonstration of Battle in the Blood (#BitB), a mobile game designed to promote HIV testing and treatment services among adolescent men who have sex with men in the Philippines. Participants will play test and discuss qualities of the game.

 

2.Participants will run queries using real data generated by the game since its launch on the 1st of December 2017 (displayed through a custom-built analytics dashboard). I will explain how the data are collected and stored. I will also discuss the use of the data to support a feasibility study, exploring the demand and limited efficacy of the game.

 

3.Group discussion on the application of digital game based interventions to address public health challenges in resource poor settings and NTDs. A selection of evidence based health challenges will be used to facilitate discussion. Each challenge will specify a disease, population and location. For example, how could gaming be used to increase insecticide treated bed net use, to protect against vector born disease, among young families in Tanzania?  

 

The aim is for the workshop to be very interactive with a mix of workbook activities, group discussion and hands-on demonstrations; igniting ideas on how gaming technology can support public engagement efforts in a range of health contexts.

 

For more information on HIV: Battle in the Blood please see - https://etchteam.wordpress.com/

 

 

Expected Outcomes

Increased network of academics and health professionals interested in the use of gaming for health promotion and public engagement.

 

Increased awareness of possibilities and limitations of digital games for health, leading to a higher quality of project proposals.

 

Potential to establish new partnerships and projects.