Abstract
Backgrounde-Bug is a pan-European educational resource for junior and senior school children, which contains activities covering prudent antibiotic use and the spread, treatment, and prevention of infection. Teaching resources for children aged 7-15 years are complemented by a student website that hosts games and interactive activities for the children to continue their learning at home.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to appraise young people’s opinions of 3 antibiotic games on the e-Bug student website, exploring children’s views and suggestions for improvements, and analyzing change in their knowledge around the learning outcomes covered. The 3 games selected for evaluation all contained elements and learning outcomes relating to antibiotics, the correct use of antibiotics, and bacteria and viruses.MethodsA mixed methodological approach was undertaken, wherein 153 pupils aged 9-11 years in primary schools and summer schools in the Bristol and Gloucestershire area completed a questionnaire with antibiotic and microbe questions, before and after playing 3 e-Bug games for a total of 15 minutes. The after questionnaire also contained open-ended and Likert scale questions. In addition, 6 focus groups with 48 students and think-aloud sessions with 4 students who had all played the games were performed.ResultsThe questionnaire data showed a significant increase in knowledge for 2 out of 7 questions (P=.01 and P<.001), whereas all questions showed a small level of increase. The two areas of significant knowledge improvement focused around the use of antibiotics for bacterial versus viral infections and ensuring the course of antibiotics is completed. Qualitative data showed that the e-Bug game “Body Busters” was the most popular, closely followed by “Doctor Doctor,” and “Microbe Mania” the least popular.ConclusionsThis study shows that 2 of the e-Bug antibiotic educational games are valuable. “Body Busters” effectively increased antibiotic knowledge in children and had the greatest flow and enjoyment. “Doctor Doctor” also resulted in increased knowledge, but was less enjoyable. “Microbe Mania” had neither flow nor knowledge gain and therefore needs much modification and review. The results from the qualitative part of this study will be very important to inform future modifications and improvements to the e-Bug games.
Highlights
There has been a continuous rise in the number of infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria, which, in part, has been driven by misuse of antibiotics by prescribers and patients [1,2,3,4]
The aim of the e-Bug website is that children play the games in a classroom or at home, we evaluated the effect of playing all 3 games in sequence
There was a small increase in the number of participants answering each question correctly (Multimedia Appendix 1). This increase ranged from 2.0% for the question, “Which of these microbes causes coughs and colds” to a 13.1% increase for the question, “Which of these would antibiotics be used for?” the increase was only significant for the 2 questions (5 and 7) which tested pupil’s knowledge about the effectiveness of antibiotics against bacteria and viruses (P
Summary
There has been a continuous rise in the number of infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria, which, in part, has been driven by misuse of antibiotics by prescribers and patients [1,2,3,4]. The e-Bug project is a pan-European initiative that aims to help “reduce the incidence of antibiotic resistance across Europe by educating future prescribers and users on prudent antibiotic use” [8]. The e-Bug website contains 2 sections, junior and senior, aimed at pupils aged 9-11 years and 12-15 years respectively. These include downloadable classroom lesson plans for teachers and fact files, quizzes, and revision guides for students. The e-Bug website hosts several games, to be used at school or in the home, aimed at improving young people’s understanding of respiratory and hand hygiene, and responsible antibiotic use [9,10]
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