Face-the-Case

Achieving health literacy through game play

Overview

Face-the-Case is a quest in which the player collects the health literacy skills and uses them to solve a large set of realistic health and human services case studies

It is a role-playing game similar to A Tale in the Desert

Contains elements similar to elements in Final Fantasy X and Age of Empires

Teaches undergraduate nursing and social work students health literary skills in a role-playing environment that is engaging, challenging and visually interesting

Game World

Skill shops (3) Collaboration Café Case room Bling boutique High score board

Game Elements

Player avatar Skills objects (three types) Case studies Companion collaborators Skill dollars (for buying skills) Bling bucks (for accessorizing avatar) PDA (contains inventory, displays status

info)

Skills

Language specific fluency

Aphasic

Intubated person

Manages information

Hearing impairment

Refines search strategy

Language barrier

Retrieves information in person

Communicate with anxious person

Retrieves information online

Ability to assess client's health literacy

Communicate with confused person

Effectively searches for information

Knows of community support services

Communicate with angry person

Chooses appropriate methods of information retrieval

Identifies most major languages in service area

Comforting

Find information

Identifies most major languages in service area

Posture

Validates understanding of information through discourse

Seeks other's beliefsTouch

Compares new knowledge with prior knowledge

Expresses biasesEye contactSynthesizes information to create new concept

Self identifies ethnic groupBody languageApplies criteria to variety of information sources

Recognizes own belief systemConvey instructionsSummarizes main concept

Cultural CompetencyCommunicationInformation

Compose letters, memos and notes

Create patient instructions

Case Studies in Health & Human Services

Mr. Lonely Heart is unable to drive and stuck at home. He needs transportation and diet advice.

Mrs. Bedraggin is a Spanish speaking mother of four young children, husband works two jobs, needs help getting children ready to attend public school, relief from stress associated with child care, immigration, etc.

Miss Hungry is a young single college student with active eating disorder, escalating health problems are beginning to affect school, social life. She needs nutritional counseling, help with seeking health services, etc.

Mr. All Alone is a recently widowed elderly man who is unable to read all but most basic signage, needs to renew driver's license, and needs help with legal matters associated with wife's death.

Other cases will include topics like husband's in-laws, a bad diagnosis, foster children, job loss, temporary disability, substance abuse, child abuse, relocation, nursing home placement, minor injury, bullying at school, poor school performance, no health insurance

Companion Collaborators

Each collaborator will have a predefined set of skills relevant to game

Collaborators will include a lawyer, Spanish speaker, pediatrician, psychiatrist, dietician, exercise therapist, librarian, social security clerk, ESL tutor, Russian speaker, communication specialist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, respiratory therapist, baby sitter, driver, Arabic speaker, and job counselor

PDA

Holds inventory and status information Inventory consists of skill objects Status includes

Case history (solved and unsolved)Skill dollar countBling buck count

Game Activities & Events

Player creates profile and avatar (one time activity) Game presents one randomly selected case study to player Player reviews case study Player (optionally) acquires skills

Buy skills in skill shops Successfully complete mini-games to earn new skills

Player (optionally) chooses one companion collaborator Player “faces the case”

Selects cluster of skills needed to solve active Applies skill cluster to active case Receives rewards for solving case or feedback/hints in the

event that case is not solved successfully Player (optionally) buys bling to accessorize avatar

Mini-Games

In addition to buying skills, players will be able to play mini-games within the larger game to earn new skills

Examples of what a player will accomplish in a mini-game: Identify outward manifestations of beliefs (i.e. clothes,

jewelry, food, etc) Identify characteristics of healthcare need (i.e. Native

American, disabled, educated, wealthy) Speak a foreign language Identify biased statements Recognize relationship among concepts (i.e. broader,

narrower, contradictory, complementary, etc.) Identify agreement/disagreement between concepts Pick out evaluation criteria from a list

Narrative Structure

The narrative structure fits nicely into Campbell’s1 three-part “hero’s journey” metaphor : The Departure: The hero (i.e. the player) is presented with a

case study, which is a call for help The Initiation: The hero goes about collecting the skills and

choosing a companion collaborator that will assist him in solving the problem presented in the case study

The Return: The hero chooses the skill he thinks will help him solve the case and then applies this skill cluster to the case. If successful, he is rewarded with bling bucks. If not successful, he receives hints that will help him when he returns to this case

The player repeats this journey over and over, solving new cases and revisiting old cases that he was initially unable to solve. As the journey is repeated, skills (and the knowledge of how to apply those skills) accumulate and cases become easier to solve

1. J. Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton University Press. (1972)

Game Play Sequence

Buy Bling

CommunicationsMarket

CollaborationCafe

InfoEmporium

CultureBazaar

ReviewCase Study

LoginFace the

Case

Sample Game Play – Steps 1 & 2

Step 1: Player logs into game through a web browser

Step 2: If first time in game, player creates an avatar

Sample Game Play – Step 3

Step 3: Game presents player with a randomly selected case study

Mr. All Alone is a recently widowed elderly man who is unable to read all but most basic signage, needs to renew his driver's license, and needs help with legal matters associated with wife's death.

Sample Game Play – Step 4

Step 4: Player enters the Information Emporium and buys two skills

Knows of community support services

Chooses appropriate methods of information retrieval

Validates understanding of information through discourse

Sample Game Play – Step 5

Step 5: Player enters the Culture Bazaar and buys two skills

Create patient instructions

Knows of community support services

Sample Game Play – Step 6

Step 6: Player enters the Communications Market and buys one skill

Able to compose letters, memos and notes

Sample Game Play – Step 7

Step 7: Player enters the Collaboration Café and chooses a companion

Lawyer

Sample Game Play – Steps 8 & 9

Mr. All Alone is a recently widowed elderly man who is unable to read all but most basic signage, needs to renew his driver's license, and needs help with legal matters associated with wife's death.

Select a cluster of skills from inventory and apply to active case

Sample Game Play – Steps 10 & 11

Player receives feedback If case is successfully solved, player receives

reward (bling bucks) If case is not successfully solved, player receives

hints/instruction on how to solve the case Player optionally enters Bling Boutique and buys

accessories for his avatar

Audience

1,200 undergraduate allied health students (e.g. future nurses and social workers)

Game is aimed at a population of pre-professionals whose course of study is preparing them for careers in which they will interact with a diverse population of patients/clients who have complex and diverse health and human services needs

The Production Team Content specialist: Librarian, faculty from Institute for

Innovation in Health and Human Services Learning specialist: JMU instructional technologist Production manager: JMU software developer Graphic artist: outsourced, JMU students Animation specialist: outsourced, JMU students Sound: JMU’s Center for Instructional Technology Narrative: JMU Health Literacy faculty Programing: JMU software developer, JMU computer

science majors Play testers: JMU nursing students Assessment: Faculty from JMU’s Center for

Assessment & Research

Technologies

Macromedia Flash object running in a web browser (graphical game interface)

SQL Server 2005 Express (database for storing user profiles and history, skill sets, case histories, etc.)

.NET Web Services (communication between Flash object and database)

.NET Web Application for managing database content (adding new skills, case studies, etc.)

Expected Outcome

Expected outcome: Game players will demonstrate increasingly high levels of cultural awareness, improved communication skills, and improved information literacy skills within a variety of settings

Assessment: To be determined. Challenge: Build fun into the game so that students are

motivated to play Game must be visually engaging Skill mechanics must be further developed so that game

does not rely to a large extent on “buying skills” Solving cases should involve combining skills in interesting

and challenging ways

Is it Fun?

1 Tooth extraction

2 Airport security

3 Faculty meeting

4 Potluck lunch

5 Day at the water park