Use of a 3-D role-playing game in applying the PRECEDE-PROCEED planning model: An innovative approach in graduate and undergraduate public health education

Print textbooks continue to be the main out-of-class resource for public health   faculty at many institutions of higher education. Unlike interactive systems which allow students to see the consequences of their decisions and thus improve their systems thinking, print textbooks typically offer units of knowledge in static forms which cannot easily be manipulated, tested, or connected. Furthermore, textbooks offer little intrinsic motivation to students to read and retain content.

The purpose of the current study is to evaluate application of an immersive, 3D role-playing game, which will be used in place of a standard textbook to deliver content on the Precede-Proceed program planning model. Precede-Proceed explains health-related behaviors and environments, and guides design and evaluation of public health interventions. Our game contextualizes learning of this model for students in undergraduate and graduate public health courses via proven digital game design principles.

Students enter the game as public health workers encountering a fictional community and have conversations and build relationships with people around the community (at the hospital, the town hall, the elementary school, etc.). While the game is being played, students have access to tips and tutorials which contain textbook-like material based on steps in the planning model necessary to complete and apply a public health intervention and win the game. We believe this just-in-time knowledge, tied to a rich narrative, will promote far better retention than a textbook, even a digital one. Additionally, completing various steps in the game (with interactive feedback) provides built-in assessment of student learning.