Abstract:

Introduction:
It is known that mass tragedies, as the COVID-19 pandemic, often trigger heightened anxiety and fear. These effects are known to cause disruptions to the behaviour and psychological well-being of many in the population [1]. Psychological impact of previous global disease outbreaks has demonstrated clear links between pandemic-related anxiety and high level of anxiety and stress [2].
University students also suffered this pandemic state, presenting higher mean levels of stress, anxiety, and depression than other age groups, maybe due to the additional stress caused by having to adapt to the new online educational environment [3].
In this context, we aimed to develop learning methods based on challenges to keep the students’ minds active in such uncertain times with games based on optometric concepts.

Methodology:
We created 12 different games related to our field of expertise. Games were based on existing logic and ingenuity games, that we adapted to make them more specific and related to our subjects.
These games were enrolled as a ludic part of some subjects of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of the Grade of Optics and Optometry, and in one Optometry Master subject. Participation in the games was voluntary and this part did not contribute to the final qualification.
For each game, we computed the percentage of students that participated, and the percentage of correct responses.

Results:
Students participation was strongly correlated with the subject. The greatest participation was obtained in 3rd year students, whereas the lowest participation was obtained in the 2nd year.
Around 18.4 % of the students that had access to the games participated in this activity. The mean percentage of correct responses in all the games was 82.9%.
Participation rates decreased with time. Games proposed at the end of confinement had lower student participation. The first game had a mean participation of 43.3% but participation dropped to 2.2 % in the last game.

Conclusions:
Our activities helped to keep students’ minds diverted during the uncertain first weeks of confinement, and to continue learning.

References:
[1] S. Balaratnasingam and A. Janca, “Mass hysteria revisited”, Curr Opin Psychiatry, vol.19, pp.171-4, 2006.
[2] M.G. Wheaton, J.S. Abramowitz, N.C. Berman, L.E. Fabricant and B.O. Olatunji, “Cognitive Therapy and Research. Psychological predictors of anxiety in response to the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic”. Cognitive Therapy and Research. vol 36, pp. 210–218, 2012.
[3] Ozamiz-Etxebarria, N. Dosil-Santamaria, M. Picaza-Gorrochategui, M. and Idoiaga-Mondragon, “Stress, anxiety, and depression levels in the initial stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in a population sample in the northern Spain”. Cad. Saúde Pública [online], vol.36, n.4, 2020.

Keywords:

Coronavirus, games, online, challenges.