Abstract:

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, opioid overdose and death were the most significant emerging public health and societal crisis in Canada. According to the Government of Canada, this already deadly crisis is worsening during the COVID-19 pandemic, with record numbers of opioid-related deaths, emergency calls, and hospitalizations in many communities across the country from January 2016 to June 2020. In 2020 (January to September), 96% of apparent opioid toxicity deaths were accidental (unintentional). (Government of Canada, 2021).

Post-secondary students are affected by the opioid crisis and may encounter a suspected opioid overdose as likely bystanders or as part of the general public. They are also increasingly at risk for opioid overdose. The latest National statistics indicate that post-secondary students fall within the age group experiencing the most deaths due to opioid toxicity (age 20-49) and the fastest-growing population (age 15-24) requiring hospital care from an opioid overdose (2021; 2019).

Overdose education and naloxone distribution have been provided to individuals at high risk of opioid overdose and likely bystanders to prevent overdose deaths. However, implementation barriers (e.g., stigma and high resource requirements for face-to-face education) and individual factors (e.g., the likelihood of seeking information and training) limit this strategy's potential impact. The use of a serious game is a novel approach to address these barriers and achieve the aim of a user-centred approach with maximal reach. Applying serious gaming to opioid overdose education for post-secondary students holds promise, given the high rate of video game use among this population (Entertainment Software Association of Canada, 2020).

In 2022, a proof of concept project to develop a serious game of opioid education was initiated. Good game design is the starting point of an effective serious game and begins with assessing the target audience's attitudes, perceptions and interests. Thus, as a first step, the project surveyed 200 post-secondary students to gain insight into their attitudes, perceptions, and intentions toward learning with serious games and wants for a serious game about the opioid crisis and responding to a suspected overdose.

This presentation will discuss the study's findings and how they were applied to develop the Suspected Overdose Serious (SOS) Game.

Keywords:

Serious Games, Opioid Crisis, Post Secondary Students, Learner Attitudes and Perceptions.