BACKGROUND
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a severe impact on students’ mental health. Interventions are still needed to promote their psychological wellbeing and prevent mental illnesses during this unprecedented situation. Escape Games can be an effective tool to support students’ mental health based on pedagogical innovation. A co-creation approach can improve their acceptability by involving different stakeholders (ex. end-users, game designers, health professionals) in order to obtain games which are adapted to the target audience.
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to describe the process of testing and optimizing the game EscapeCovid on student mental health focusing on the needs of players in terms of form and contents.
METHODS
The PRODUCES framework was used. Co-creation steps were explained for replicability. These included test of a first pilot version of the game by 45 students answering a satisfaction questionnaire, 10 semi-structured interviews with testers, meetings of stakeholders and brainwriting.
RESULTS
Main findings of this study showed that students enjoyed playing the game EscapeCovid. This reflects general young people’s appreciation for serious games using an entertaining approach for experiential learning. While playing, students were attracted by the scenario and delivered messages, feeling motivated to follow the story. Testers considered the game EscapeCovid as a tool helping learn new health-related topics. Playing in groups was also a strategy to make connections and combat isolation, particularly experienced during Covid-19
CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that co-creation contributes to improve the acceptability of a health promotion and disease prevention intervention and that an end-user-centered approach can facilitate the intervention tailoring. When conceiving a health-related Escape Game, we recommend to use the co-creation approach to increase players’ appreciation and interest in the intervention, thus influencing eventually their learning process.