Development and Evaluation of an Interactive Injury Prevention Video Game for School Aged Children
Hypothesis:
Children who play an interactive game will acquire, retain, and practice safety knowledge and behaviors that will lead to a lower incidence of injury than children not exposed to the game.
Specific Aims:
- To design an interactive video game for elementary school age children that will incorporate critical safety lessons into game play in a challenging and engaging way.
- To evaluate the influence of the game on the acquisition, retention, and practice of safety knowledge and behaviors.
- To track injuries among the children who have played the game and compare them to children who have not had this exposure and to determine if game-playing has had any long-term impact in preventing injuries.
Milestones
Using CDC funds, the SFIC previously developed a pilot interactive video game designed to impart pedestrian safety messages for early elementary school children. This year, utilizing funds from a private donor, we were able to upgrade the game to market quality through a contract with our partners at Realtime Associates in Los Angeles. The game, entitled Ace's Adventure, utilizes a character who is walking to school, and who encounters multiple obstacles en route. At each obstacle, a "mini-game" must be mastered before Ace can continue on to school. Each of these mini-games focuses on a pedestrian safety message (how to cross the intersection at a stop-light; avoiding rescuing a ball thrown into the street; making eye contact with a driver at an intersection before crossing; how to signal a driver who is backing up; walking safely around school buses in the parking lot; exiting a car at school safely). The target audience for the game is 1st and 2nd grade children.
Ace's Adventures
Eye Contact
Looking both ways
