Browsing by Author "Hill, Jacqueline"

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    Health Educational Games and Their Effectiveness Among Children
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2014-04-11) Hill, Jacqueline; Defazio, Joseph
    After the release of the health educational games, Bronkie the Bronchiasaurus and Packy and Marlon in 1995, the production of health educational games for children started to increase. Over the past couple of decades, health educational video games on the topics of Asthma, Cancer, Diabetes and Risk Prevention, have been proven to be an effective form of learning for children. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of these health education games among children. For this study, search engines such as Google, Bing, and Google Scholar were used to find health educational games on the topics of Asthma, Cancer, Diabetes, and Risk Prevention. In order to produce the best results, several searches were conducted using a series of keyword identifiers. Keyword searches were completed to discover content in the areas of frequency of use, effectiveness, and evidence-based outcomes from these games. To date, twenty-three health educational games were found. Out of twenty-three games, twenty-one were successful in their reported effectiveness. Our research also shows that some hospitals around the United States have started to incorporate these games into their patients’ regimen because of the degree of success reported.
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    Serious Health Educational Games and Their Effectiveness Among Children
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Hill, Jacqueline; Defazio, Joseph
    Researchers have struggled to create effective mechanisms that help educate children on various health-related topics. Since the release of Captain Novolin and Bronkie the Bronchiasaurus in the early 1990’s, there has been a steady production of health educational games for children. The authors have conducted an exhaustive literature review and found twenty-six health related games that have been released in the United States. From 1992 - 2013, these games cover a range of health related issues such as Asthma, Depression, Diabetes, and Cancer. Our findings suggest that the majority of the health education games focus on educating younger children about diabetes and reducing diabetes-related emergency visits. Thus, our focus is on six diabetes related games, Captain Novolin, Packy and Marlon, Dbaza’s Diabetes Education for Kids, Starbright Life Adventure Series, Nanoswarm: Invasion from Inner Space, Escape from Diab. Our research questions are: “What are the common characteristics that promote these games to be a success?” “What is the relevance of only focusing on the topic of diabetes?”
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    Theory and Research into Practice: Using Self-Determination Theory to Analyze Gamification and Motivational Affordances in Serious Games for Health Education
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2016-04-08) Hill, Jacqueline; Jia, Yuan; Defazio, Joseph
    In serious games for health education, regulation styles in gamification help the player achieve goals through behavioral motivations that may not be apparent in an educational activity. These regulation styles are referred to as motivational affordances and might be widely employed in gamification or game-like systems that motivate users to engage in play a “gameful-type” experience. Gamification is defined as the application of game mechanics (point scoring, competition, rules, etc.) and game design techniques in order to engage and motivate players to achieve goals. Zhang defined affordance as “the actionable properties between an object and an actor” which determine how they can support one’s motivational needs. Are there common gamification and motivational affordances in serious games that prove to be effective in game play on the topic of diabetes? To answer this question, the authors explore the effects of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation during game play by analyzing six serious games in health education on the topic of diabetes. The games selected for this study are: Carb Counting with Lenny, Dex: Your Virtual Pet, Pancreas!, I Got This, Packy & Marlon, and Captain Novolin. As a work-in-progress, the authors provide evidence using the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the constructs of motivational affordances. The characteristics in SDT were identified as competence, relatedness, and autonomy. In addition, the author’s research explores motivational affordances found in these health education games namely: psychological outcomes: motivation – keeping the player engaged, attitude – the effect of solving a problem or challenge, and enjoyment – a behavioral outcome produced by competition, play, and achievement. Behavioral outcomes: achievement – attaining success, learning evidence – gaining new knowledge (learning outcome), participation – player immersion in the game objective or story. The authors present their findings and identify, compare, and contrast gamification and the motivational affordances found in each game. Mentor: Joseph Defazio Ph.D., Department of Human-Centered Computing, IU School of Informatics and Computing, IUPUI; Indianapolis, IN