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MSU Professor develops video game to educate families about health topics

December 12, 2024 - Fox47

Family Medicine psychiatric nurse practitioner Angela Chia-Chen Chen PhD, PMHNP-BC

Originally published December 6, 2024 on Fox47News.com

 

(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)

I'm your MSU Neighborhood Reporter Colin Jankowski. Do you ever pass time by scrolling? I know I do. And an MSU professor hopes time spent in a doctor's waiting room could actually start conversations about getting a shot. Here's how.

"We do everything to try and promote education," Dr. Angela Chia-Chen Chen said.

As a Physician herself, Dr. Angela Chia-Chen knows the importance of health education with patients.

"Verbally, non-verbally, flyers, brochures," she said.

But, as she found through her experience, patients don't always read them. So, she decided to meet them where they are.

"They pay all their attention to their devices, right," she said.

Dr. Chen and her team designed a game, "HPV Detective", to try and educate patients about the HPV Vaccine in an engaging way—right on their phone.

The game was designed for children and parents alike to play. It takes patients through the human body, destroying viruses and germs, while also displaying facts about both the virus and the vaccine.

“I think the game made it easier, like she said, to understand what HPV was and how to protect yourself from it,” Brittni Perry Boddy said.

Brittni Perry Boddy and her daughter, Aubree, have played the game, and say it made the information clear, and accessible.

"I have ADHD, so it makes it a lot easier for people like me to understand," Aubree said.

While the game hasn't been released just yet, Dr. Chen says that focus group testing of the game has been promising so far.