Improving Sexual Health Education Programs for Adolescent Students through Game-Based Learning and Gamification

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Educational Technology
• Adolescent Health

Background:

• Traditional sexual health education struggles to engage digital native adolescents.
• Innovative pedagogies are needed to meet the needs of technology-savvy youth.
• Game-based learning (GBL) and gamification offer potential solutions for improved engagement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effectiveness of GBL and gamification in adolescent sexual health education.
• To compare GBL and gamification against traditional teaching methods.
• To assess the impact on student motivation, attitude, knowledge, and engagement (MAKE).

Main Methods:

• A randomized control trial involving 120 secondary school students in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
• Three groups: GBL, gamification, and traditional teaching (control).
• A mixed-method approach was used over five weeks, with 40-minute weekly sessions.

Main Results:

• GBL and gamification groups showed significantly higher post-test scores (Mean = 79.94, SD = 11.169 and Mean = 79.23, SD = 9.186) than the control group (Mean = 51.93, SD = 18.705).
• Statistically significant improvements (p ≤ 0.05) were observed across Motivation, Attitude, Knowledge, and Engagement (MAKE) constructs.
• The differences between the three teaching conditions were statistically significant (F(2, 117) = 54.75, p = 0.001).

Conclusions:

• GBL and gamification are effective innovative pedagogies for adolescent sexual health education.
• These approaches can enhance student learning and engagement in sexual health topics.
• The findings have implications for improving sexual health behaviors and knowledge in regions facing significant sexual health challenges, such as HIV/AIDS.