Conceptualization of a Gamification design to provide support about the deferral experience in blood donation (Preprint)

Abstract

Multiple studies have discussed the impact of deferral in the motivation of prospect blood donors, suggesting policies and strategies to guide citizens that go through this experience. However, current ICT systems targeting blood donation have neither implemented these ideas, nor offered options that can assist with the deferral experience.

In that regard, this study aims to define the core issues to be addressed and the design guidelines to consider when providing ICT support regarding the deferral experience.

We reviewed literature regarding the dynamics of motivation and intention of people in relation to blood donation, and about the deferral situation and its impact on citizens. A diagram of interactions of the identified concepts was created and used as basis for our design approach regarding the goal about the deferral situation. We determined that a weak donor identity, lack of knowledge, and reduced motivation are key points to be satisfied for appropriate support of citizens. With that in consideration, we proposed a Gamification approach that focuses on seven game dynamics that nurture intrinsic motivation, and that uses game mechanics focused on extrinsic motivation to reinforce these dynamics, with the aim to stimulate for a regular participation behavior. For a preliminary evaluation, a prototype was designed to collect feedback of usability, usefulness, and interest in regards to a system that implements the proposed guidelines.

Of the participants, a total of 11 citizens interacted with the application and also submitted their feedback through our survey. They indicated that interacting with the application was relatively easy with a 4.13 average when considering the 11 tasks of interaction. For the SUS results, a final average score of 70.91 was calculated from the participants answers. Positive response was shown when asked about liking the concept of the application (3.82), to be likely to download it (3.55), and to be likely to recommend it to others (3.64).

Current systems, specifically mobile applications, have room for improvement in their design approaches and offered services in regards to blood donation and the deferral experience. Gamification seems to be an appropriate approach to improve the services design and their effects. However, more specialized and longitudinal design evaluation with the potential users is required.