Refugee Escape Room©: a new gamification tool to deepen learning about Migration and Health

Abstract

Abstract Background The aim of gamification is to provide an experiential exercise that invokes emotions to deepen learning. MyHealth project is interested in developing tools that facilitate healthcare access to newly arrived immigrants in Europe. One important barrier is the low levels of intercultural competency among healthcare professionals and the pervasiveness of negative health-related stereotypes. Methods We aim to demonstrate the educational value and social impact of the Refugee Escape Room©, to 1) raise awareness about the social and health challenges faced by vulnerable migrants and 2) provide an effective intercultural competence and self-efficacy training for hosting community. The game was created in 2017 by healthcare professionals and university students with personal migratory experience. It is divided in two parts. The first part addresses knowledge gaps about relevant aspects of Migration and Health. The second part is a fictional border control exercise with multiple bureaucratic challenges that participants, organized as “families”, must overcome to succeed. A pre-post pilot was executed to test for tool effectiveness. The piloting phase involved carrying out multiple instances of the activity for separate target groups. A questionnaire was developed with items related to knowledge, self-efficacy and intercultural competence. The questionnaire was filled by participants at baseline and post intervention to assess for statistically significant changes in all outcomes. Results while the piloting phase is still ongoing preliminary results show a high level of acceptability and engagement with the tool. Conclusions Refugee Escape Room© is a newly created tool that posits as a promising awareness-raising, competency-building gamification tool that is easily adaptable to multiple settings and participants. Key messages Gamification provides an experiential exercise that invokes emotions to deepen learning. Refugee Escape Room© is a promising tool for raising awareness about challenges faced by vulnerable migrants.