Co-Creating a Virtual Alcohol Prevention Simulation with Young People

Area of Science:

• Health Promotion
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Digital Health

Background:

• User involvement in health promotion intervention development enhances outcomes.
• Research on end-user roles and perspectives in co-creation processes is limited.
• Gamified virtual reality (VR) simulations offer novel approaches to health promotion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore young people's perceptions of their involvement in a co-creation process.
• To understand user roles and perspectives in developing a gamified VR simulation (VR FestLab).

Main Methods:

• The Living Lab methodology structured the co-creation process.
• Participants included students, health practitioners, researchers, and gaming experts.
• Semi-structured interviews with nine student end-users were thematically analyzed.

Main Results:

• Student participants reported influence over their tasks and felt included.
• Collaboration and feedback enhanced self-efficacy and empowered idea generation.
• Participants expressed a need for more information on the final VR FestLab production.

Conclusions:

• Living Lab methodology-guided co-creation fostered empowerment and self-efficacy in young users.
• Future Living Labs require enhanced communication strategies regarding post-prototyping development and implementation.
• User-centered design in digital health interventions is crucial for engagement and effectiveness.