Enhancing COVID-19 Knowledge among Nursing Students: A Quantitative Study of a Digital Serious Game Intervention
McConnell, H., Duncan, D. 
ORCID: 0000-0003-4667-2497, Stark, P. , Anderson, T., McMahon, J., Creighton, L., Craig, S., Carter, G., Smart, A., Alanazi, A. & Mitchell, G. (2024).
Enhancing COVID-19 Knowledge among Nursing Students: A Quantitative Study of a Digital Serious Game Intervention.
Healthcare, 12(11),
article number 1066.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare12111066
Abstract
Background: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a digital serious game intervention about COVID-19 on pre-registration nursing student knowledge. Method: This study included 282 nursing students from a university in Northern Ireland, with 210 students providing comparable pre-test and post-test results. The ‘serious game’ aimed to debunk common COVID-19 myths and provide accurate information about the virus. Participants completed a 25-item questionnaire before and after engaging with the game, which included true/false items based on the World Health Organisation’s list of top COVID-19 myths. The data were analysed using paired t-tests to assess knowledge changes, and scores were calculated as percentages of correct answers. Results: A statistically significant improvement in COVID-19 knowledge was demonstrated among first-year nursing students who engaged with the serious game. The post-test scores (M = 92.68, SD = 13.59) were notably higher than the pre-test scores (M = 82.64, SD = 13.26), with a p-value less than 0.001. Conclusion: This research suggests that integrating serious games into undergraduate nursing education can effectively enhance COVID-19 knowledge. This approach is aligned with the evolving trend of employing technology and gamification in healthcare education.
| Publication Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | © 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Publisher Keywords: | COVID-19; serious games; gamification; nursing education; healthcare education; education; health care; vaccine hesitancy |
| Subjects: | L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education R Medicine > RT Nursing |
| Departments: | School of Health & Psychological Sciences School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Nursing |
| SWORD Depositor: |
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
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