Yale researchers are developing a video game for the iPad aimed at preventing HIV infection among ethnic minority adolescents. The Yale team interviewed three dozen adolescent boys and girls in New Haven, Connecticut (known as the Elm City), to determine the factors that drive their behaviors, specifically risk behaviors.
Kimberly Hieftje, Associate Research Scientist & Member of Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS, Yale, said, "It is vitally important that we reach this age group with interventions that reflect where they are - that is, playing games. We hope using video games as a delivery vehicle will increase their level of engagement, with greater opportunities for positive and enduring behavior change."
The video game, which is called Playforward: Elm City Stories, is being developed, in collaboration with Digitalmill and Schell Games, as an interactive world in which the players, using an avatar (virtual character) they have created, "travel" through life, facing challenges and making decisions that bring different risks and benefits.
