Abstract:

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), infant mortality is a global public health problem, particularly in developing countries. WHO estimates that about 8 million children die worldwide each year before reaching the age of five.

Of these, an average of 3 million died in the first month of life. Reducing child mortality is one of the main goals of the policies in connection with maternal and child health in all countries. It is known that, with the improvement in the structure of perinatal care, many infant deaths could be avoided and primary health care is one of the determining factors in this context.

Given the high rates of maternal and infant mortality, there is a demand of qualified professionals for specialized services in this sector of primary care. In Brazil, the government has focused on Distance Education (DE) to offer continuing education to professionals from public health care through the Open University of Brazilian National Health System (UNA-SUS), which works in partnership with public universities in several states.

In Maranhão, with the support of the Federal University of that state (UFMA), UNA-SUS\UFMA is responsible for developing and offering free courses in the distance modality, among them, the Specialization in Maternal and Child Health. This type of continuing education helps to overcome difficulties of time and displacement, allowing professionals to update their knowledge regarding the specific care of these users.

UNA-SUS/UFMA has developed various mechanisms and educational tools to facilitate learning through distance education. Among them, it is interesting to note the educational electronic games, created by the institution to provide realistic and interactive study experiences, seeking to integrate playful and specific aspects in order to make learning more dynamic, creative and motivating.

This paper will present an electronic educational game developed for professional training in Maternal and Child Health. Two main models for playability – themed mini games and quizzes – are employed in the game so as not to make the students’ experience repetitive and dull. The mini games are used to contextualize the student to the problem and to fix the knowledge, and the quiz is used to check the retention of content.

Keywords:

Serious Games, e-learning, Health Education, Maternal and Child Health.