An Evidence-Based Serious Game App for Public Education on Antibiotic Use and Resistance: Randomized Controlled Trial

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Informatics
• Game-Based Learning

Background:

• Antibiotic misuse and overuse accelerate antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
• Serious games offer a novel approach to public health education on AMR.
• The SteWARdS Antibiotic Defence app was developed to promote responsible antibiotic practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the SteWARdS Antibiotic Defence app's effectiveness in enhancing public knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions (KAP) of appropriate antibiotic use and AMR in Singapore.
• Assessing the impact of an educational serious game on public health awareness.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving 348 participants (aged 18-65) in Singapore.
• Intervention group used the SteWARdS Antibiotic Defence app; control group received no intervention.
• Knowledge and attitude-perception questionnaires administered at baseline, post-intervention, and follow-up.

Main Results:

• The intervention group showed statistically significant improvements in knowledge (effect size: 0.58) and attitude-perception scores (effect size: 0.98) compared to the control group.
• Over 95% of participants felt the app improved awareness of antibiotic use and AMR.
• High user satisfaction reported, with 85.2% recommending the app.

Conclusions:

• The SteWARdS Antibiotic Defence serious game app effectively enhances KAP regarding antibiotic use and AMR.
• Engaging, user-friendly educational apps with appealing interfaces are crucial for public health initiatives.
• Future research should focus on long-term knowledge retention and behavioral change.