Abstract
Objective: International travel to underdeveloped areas where both hygienic conditions and sufficient medical
care are often in short supply can pose severe health risks. Infectious disease is one of the most common health
risks for military forces deployed overseas. Careful personal hygiene and early symptom recognition serve as
important steps in averting potential illness. With the ubiquitous deployment threat of chemical and biological
warfare agents, the benefit of early detection and action can ultimately be critical for survival. Nowadays gamebased
learning models, made available on mobile devices in the form of apps, can provide relevant medical
knowledge, and they can effectively reach a young military population. The aims of this preliminary research
project are twofold: (1) We want to investigate whether young U.S. Army personnel would be open to the use of
mobile apps while deployed abroad, and (2) we want to share the research design adopted with the intent of
providing a baseline methodology that can be used in future larger studies.
Subjects and Methods: We recruited and interviewed Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets at a university in
the United States. Focus groups have been adopted as a research tool for collecting data. Open and close-ended
questions were used during the focus group. Four domains were investigated: Cell phone usage, game console
perceptions, game genre preferences, and gaming habits and perceptions.
Results: The analysis of the focus group data reported that young military personnel often play with videogames
and that they prefer first person Action/Combat genre. The data also showed that they do not consider playing
videogames to be a leisure activity but a part of their lives.
Conclusion: The preliminary results of this study suggest that games on cell phones could be considered as a
platform for teaching young military personnel medical-related concepts and health safety procedures.
Lingua originale | English |
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pagine (da-a) | 134-138 |
Numero di pagine | 5 |
Rivista | Games for health journal |
Stato di pubblicazione | Pubblicato - 2012 |
Keywords
- games
- mHealth