An Innovative, Interactive, Model-Driven Serious Game for Health Literacy Engagement and Education

Project Summary/Abstract Proposed is an innovative game-based system that provides model-driven, interactive, and engaging health literacy education. It will aid in educating and increasing exposure to health literacy concepts and knowledge. Significance: Modern healthcare makes complex demands on health consumers. As self-management of healthcare increases, individuals have assumed more complicated roles in seeking information, understanding rights and responsibilities, and making health decisions for themselves and others. Underlying these demands are assumptions about people's knowledge and skills, that is their health literacy. Unfortunately, the U.S. has a well-documented and concerning health literacy problem. Health literacy is well-established as a modifiable factor that contributes to the promotion and maintenance of good health and wellbeing across the life course. Hypothesis: We hypothesize our product will improve health literacy comprehension in a manner that general audiences find accessible, intriguing, and enjoyable and in a way that is innovatively adaptable to continued, real-world modeling and science provided health agencies. Our Phase I Specific Aims Are: 1) Establish game design and user requirements with an expert panel, 2) Create a proof-of-concept game prototype, 3) Evaluate system with a pilot study of end-users