Games that aim to promote antimicrobial stewardship: An overview of the entertainment potential

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most pressing healthcare issues. Healthcare awareness campaigns that promote antimicrobial stewardship have shown mixed results highlighting a need to look at complementary solutions to engage the public. In this context, games are increasingly used as an alternative to engaging users with healthcare issues; antibiotic stewardship makes no exception. The focus of research on games for health is on their effectiveness, the entertainment potential not receiving as much attention. In this paper, we address this gap. This study identifies a variety of methods used to assess entertainment value such as the number of users and user self-reported enjoyment. This provides a rich overview of the entertainment potential of games. However, as different games use different methods of assessment it makes it difficult to compare games and determine which aspects of games work best.