The utility of a board game for dengue haemorrhagic fever health education

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to test the effectiveness of an educational board game for increasing knowledge, positive attitudes‐beliefs, and self‐efficacy for dengue prevention in a sample of Philippine school children and adolescents. Effective board games are more advantageous than lectures because they are adaptable, inexpensive and foster learning independently of teachers or lecturers. Also tested were relationships between perceived fun by students playing the game and outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

A school‐based pre‐test/post‐test experimentally controlled design was employed in a Filipino primary and secondary school population.

Findings

The lecture was more effective in increasing knowledge. But neither was more effective than the other in increasing positive attitudes‐beliefs and self‐efficacy. Both modes produced specifically significant increases in knowledge and self‐efficacy; only the lecture produced significant increases in attitudes‐beliefs. Also, there was a significant relationship between fun and self‐efficacy in the game group at the reduced regression model level but not in the presence of all study variables.

Research limitations/implications

No long term outcomes or behavioral change outcomes were measured. However, an educational game may increase knowledge and self‐efficacy about the dengue fever without the assistance of a teacher or other pre‐game instructional aids. In addition, the board game technique is flexible and easily adapted to other community or school health issues.

Originality/value

This was the first experimentally controlled study on the use of a game with the topic of dengue. The study on the use of a game was the first to demonstrate a significant increase in self‐efficacy as a result of the play of a board game. Original instruments measured self‐efficacy related to dengue control and also the variable of fun.

Citation

Lennon, J.L. and Coombs, D.W. (2007), "The utility of a board game for dengue haemorrhagic fever health education", Health Education, Vol. 107 No. 3, pp. 290-306. https://doi.org/10.1108/09654280710742582