Gamified learning meets physiology: Healthcare students' gameful experience with a virtual educational escape room

Gamified teaching approaches are increasingly used in higher education, making it essential to examine the gameful experience resulting from interaction with educational game elements. This study aimed to evaluate undergraduate health science students' gamified learning experience using the Gamified Experience Measurement Scale in Education (GAMEX), and to analyze the influence of gender on the perceived gameful experience. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted using a digital educational escape room as a gamified learning activity. The sutdy included 170 first-year undergraduate students in nursing, medicine, and physiotherapy enrolled in a "Basic Human Physiology" course. The GAMEX scale was used to evaluate the gameful experience. Overall, all GAMEX dimensions scored above 3 on a 5-point Likert scale, with the highest ratings for Enjoyment (4.54 ± 0.56), Absence of Negative Effects (4.24 ± 1.05), and Creative Thinking (4.11 ± 0.77), while Absorption (3.51 ± 0.97) and Activation (3.03 ± 0.95) received lower scores. No significant differences were found in GAMEX scores between degree programs overall or between male and female students. However, within Nursing, female students reported higher Enjoyment (p = 0.046) and Absorption (p = 0.027) than males students. Among female students, significant differences (p < 0.05) across programs were observed in Enjoyment, Absorption, and Creative Thinking, with Medicine students showing the lowest scores. The digital escape room generated a positive gameful experience among health science students, characterized by high enjoyment, creative thinking, and low negative affect, suggesting it may be a useful complementary strategy for learning complex subjects such as Basic Human Physiology.