ABOUT
Project Abstract
Already at risk of oral health, pregnant women in US face confusion and lack guidance when seeking dental treatment. Although public policy and social service structure will not shift within a short amount of time, pregnant women in US can break their own misconception, establish high self-efficacy, as well as actively seek and advocate for prenatal dental treatment to help themselves. From some preliminary research, I realized that prenatal oral health had long been an issue overlooked in US, and wanted to find a practical solution to ease this social issue, which shows proven effectiveness in stimulating behavior changes as well as knowledge acquisition. Based on a 2012 study conducted in India indicating that exposure to a short-form game intervention package resulted in measurable shift in knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions of pregnant women toward promoted safe pregnancy and delivery actions, I designed "STOP THE BAFFIA" as a mobile game based educational intervention to evoke pregnant women’s self-efficacy as well as perceived importance of dental health during and after pregnancy. In the game, users will receive knowledge relevant to prenatal dental health through hidden object exploration, as well as learn and perform teeth cleaning habits through constant gesture interaction requirement in the game. In order for the intervention to fit in the user's fragmented schedule, learning time for each section will be limited to 5 minutes, which guarantees the undivided attention from users to absorb a “knowledge espresso”.
