Consider It!
Devlog#2 Week 6 Prototype #1
Title: Consider It!
Target Audience: Providers of Social Services and Social Workers
Transformational Objective: By the end of the play session, the players should:
- Have a greater awareness and understanding of the 5 Social Determinants of Health
- Have a greater awareness of the types factors involved in these determinants (access to healthy food options, transportation, quality schools, job opportunities, etc.)
- Gain empathy for clients whose health and well-being are being impacted by these social determinants.
Week #2 Developments:
- Personas: We liked the idea of the players assuming the role of a community member in order to create empathy as we saw in games such as Dwell and Poor, Not Guilty.
- Connecting Personas to specific Social Determinants of Health: A player’s persona card would have a column for each social determinant of health and a starting score for each column based on factors in the persona. A persona in which the character had a college degree but was laid off from a job might have 9 out of 10 “hearts” (our measurement for well-being within a determinant) for Education but 3 out of 10 for Economic Stability. Each Persona will start with the same overall number of hearts but those hearts will be distributed differently amongst the Social Determinant Categories. Chance cards will have a different impact depending on variables of the personas (ex. Having a car vs. not having a car could impact the ability to go to a night class)
- Change of Board: We had entertained the thought of a Trivial Pursuit type approach in which players traveled along a hub like board dealing with various issues and collected pieces from each category. In discussing journey mapping with Prof. Tran, we opted instead for a straight ahead “road map” approach aswe saw in The Game of Life.
Game Experience for Prototype #1
Experience Goals:
- Players experience the struggle of trying to maintain well-being while encountering challenges and having to make tough decisions affecting their well-being.
- Players will experience the joy of improving their well-being by making a positive impact on themselves, family and community.
Design Goals
Game Mechanics
- Players will move along their life path by rolling a die which dictates number of spaces moved
Physical Pieces:
- Playing Board
- Die
- Persona Cards to be assigned to each player.
- Score cards with columns for each social determinant of health so that players can track scores during game play.
- Chance cards which will present a situation in which the circumstances will influence the value of various determinants of health on that player’s score card.
- Heart Cards represent low effort, easily accessible ways to increase social determinants of health.
- Consider It! Cards which will present topics to be discussed for all players for 5 minutes
- Plastic pieces representing players.
Game Subject Matter
- The Social Determinants of Health and Well-Being and the factors that influences them: Source https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/social-determinants-of-health#overview
Gameplay:
How to Play:
- Each player receives a client profile with specific factors that impact social determinants of health ( do they have jobs, health issues, insurance, etc.)
- Profiles each have different heart values based on their factors ( employment, health access,) Everyone starts with the same total amount of hearts, they are just distributed differently amongst the categories.
- There are 3 types of spaces on the board:
- Chance: Situations (A grocery store with fresh produce comes to your neighborhood or your car has been broken down) that can raise or lower your heart level in different domains. Like “Ready,” more difficult situations will be worth more hearts. The impact of the situation can also be influenced by your character’s persona card. A character with a job or insurance would be less negatively impacted having a medical issue that needs treatment, for example. A persona with a car would be less negatively impacted by a local hospital closing.
- Hearts: A chance to earn hearts and apply them to the appropriate domain (taking a computer class at the local library or planting vegetables in a neighborhood garden)
- Consider This: Read a fun fact about determinants, players will stop, set a timer and discuss a specific issue brought up on the card.Each player who participates in the discussion earns a heart.
- Players move by rolling a die and moving that number of spaces.
- When each player crosses the finish line, they will tally the number of hearts in all columns. The player with the greatest overall well-being wins.
Post Play Discussion
- Journey map the personae that you have just played
- Facilitate discussion questions based on experiences in the game
- We will include a qr code which links to a Kahoot game in which plates can compete to test overall Knowledge of the Social Determinants Of Health.
Sample Elements for Game:
Persona
Name: | Profile | Distribution of Hearts 50/100? |
Carlos | Carlos is a 42 year old male who is widowed and single, with 2 daughters ages 9 and 12. His wife died 3 years ago after a 2 year battle against cancer.(-5) Even though they had insurance, medical bills, funeral expenses and decrease in income (his wife had been the top earner in the family prior to her illness) left him struggling to pay bills and falling into credit card debt. (-10) He went to college for a few years ( +10) but took a break to work full time and earn some money. Then he met his wife, they got married and had the girls and he never made it back. He was able to get a job as a foreman for a local manufacturer but recently the company shut down his local branch. He was thankfully offered an opportunity to transfer to another location, but this meant re-locating 90 miles away. His job does have insurance and benefits so he chose to move but being away from family and friends has been hard on him and the girls. He sold their family home and was able to find an apartment in the city that felt reasonably safe although the schools are not the best and he really misses having the support of family and friends to help him out. He knows they are eating out too much since he does not have the time to cook regular meals and it has certainly impacted his waistline and probably his health but who has time to go in for a check up. He is wearing himself just trying to keep going. Pieces: 1 car, 1 house | Economic Stability:10/20 Access to Healthcare: 8/20 Education:14/20 Social and Community Context: 6/20 Neighborhood/Built Environment:12/20 |
Dinah is a 31 year old, single mother with a 3 year old son. Dinah is unemployed but gets a Social Security check for $700 per month. She lives in an apartment community for low income families.The area has a moderately high level of crime but they know many of their neighbors. |
Chance Cards
An employer is offering to add money to your HSA by completing group challenges such as lunchtime walks and seminars. If you are employed, gain 2 economic points and 1 health point. |
A storm takes down the power in your area which impacts local businesses, homes and shelters. If you have a job you lose 2 economic points for lost wages, if you have a home you lose 1 economic point for food spoiled from lack of refrigeration. If you are homeless you lose 2 health points for having no shelter. |
Tax time! If you have a job deduct an economic point to pay taxes, if you have a home deduct 2 economic points to pay property taxes. If you are unemployed or homeless, no impact. |
A large grocery store near you has shut down. This means loss of jobs, less access to healthy food and an increase in crime. Lose 2 health points, 2 community points and 2 economic points and 3 neighborhood points. |
The local transit system has had to cut the stops nearest to your home. If you have a car and a job, lose 1 neighborhood point. If you do not have a car, lose 2 access to healthcare points 2 social points and 2 neighborhood points. |
The local school is closing. Deduct 3 environment points. If you have children, deduct one education point per child and 1 economic point as you will now have to spend more time and money to get them to school. |
You come in the morning and someone has sideswiped the cars on your street. If you own a car you can choose to lose 2 economic points to get it fixed or leave it and lose access to healthcare and access to education points |
Life unexpectedly and drastically hit your family. The loss of a loved one due to COVID-19 complications. With only a small life insurance policy payout and some retirement savings, you contemplate selling your home |
Heart Cards
Join a community garden! Make friends, help the community and get access to free veggies in season. 1 economic point 4 social points 3 community points 3 health points. |
Your grandmother is moving into a senior living facility so she gives you her car! 2 economic points, 2 access to health care points |
Your local library is offering training courses for a popular software program. Earn 2 education points and 1 economic point for increasing your job marketability. |
Start a neighborhood parents co-op where people can exchange kids clothes, toys. |
Bedtime stories: Reading and/or sharing verbal stories with children helps promote language skills, brain development. Read to a family or community member to earn education and social points. |
A neighbor asks to take care of their pet for a week. Gain economic and social points. |
You may qualify for a homeowners exemption - for properties that were not sold to new owners in the last year. If approved reduction in property taxes up to 20%, annual renewal application required. Veterans 50% reduction, no annual renewals necessary, lifetime once applied. |
Organize a Toys for Tots chapter in your community to distribute toys to children whose parents cannot afford to buy them gifts for Christmas. |
Volunteer a voters registration drive. |
Consider it!
Mental Health: Poverty in childhood and among adults can cause poor mental health through social stresses, stigma and trauma. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7525587/ Fostering positive relationships at home, at work, or in a person’s community can improve public well-being. The Healthy People campaign aims to help people get the social support and care they might need. For example, it is working to reduce anxiety and depression by providing more support to children and those caring for people with disabilities, among other groups. ( https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/social-and-community-context ) As a social services provider, what programs are you aware of to provide emotional and social support. What types of initiatives or activities might you put into place to help people in your community with mental health issues? |
What do you think success looks like for your character profile in one of five determinant areas? |
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