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DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1667371
The Use of a Game-Based Decision Aid to Educate Pregnant Women about Prenatal Screening: A Randomized Controlled Study
Funding This research was supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute (HD083832) and in part by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UL1TR001067. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.Publication History
13 August 2017
26 June 2018
Publication Date:
14 August 2018 (online)


Abstract
Purpose This project developed and evaluated the efficacy of a game decision aid among pregnant women about prenatal screening in a randomized controlled study.
Study Design Participants were recruited from an obstetric clinic of an academic urban medical center and randomized (n = 73) to one of two study groups: the control group (n = 39) that used a brochure or the intervention group (n = 34) that also used a game decision aid.
Result Participants who played the game had higher knowledge scores (m = 21.41, standard deviation [SD] = 1.74) than participants in the control group (m = 19.59; SD = 3.31), p = 0.004. The median time of game playing was 6:43 minutes (range: 2:17–16:44). The groups were similar in frequency of completing screening after the study, control = 6 (15%) versus intervention = 11 (32%), p = 0.087. However, the more interaction with the game resulted in more positive attitudes toward screening.
Conclusion The addition of a game decision aid was effective in educating pregnant women about prenatal screening. As other genetic testing decisions continue to increase within clinical care, game-based decision tools may be a constructive method of informed decision-making.