Digital gamification as action to reduce road accidents: the videogame SLEEP-RO@D

Abstract

Global, European, and national data show that road accidents (RA) are an increasingly important cause of injuries, disability and deaths. Our workday is significantly impacted by the road: in Europe up to 40% of road deaths are work-related. The causes of road injuries work-related and traffic accidents are the same and the excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), usually caused by insufficient and inadequate sleep quality and/or quantity, is considered an important factor of RA. Digital serious game, with an explicit and defined educational purpose, are emerging as new tools to promote psychological growth, well-being, and training. The aim of this study is to illustrate the development of a videogame on the knowledge, promotion, and education about sleep hygiene (SH) and RA, its perception and impact on occupational safety and health (OSH). Starting from a literature analysis on scientific articles about “sleep, health, and driving” topics (databases PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus), the SLEEP-RO@D game dynamic combined the literature results with the main RA causes to create an educational-participatory intervention as innovative tool for changing bad sleep hygiene behaviours and habits. At the end of the game cycle the player receives feedback and suggestions for enhancing sleep quality and general well-being, reducing the risk of RA increasing awareness, and promoting a good sleep hygiene in workplaces too. The videogame was tested on a convenience sample of 154 subjects (44.4% women, 55.6% men) with the average age of 33.6 years. The 63.0% of the participants report being unfamiliar with serious games and the 87% claim to have a very good and pleasurable user experience. Gamification can be a methodology directly aimed at increasing involvement, creating a perfect balance between learning and entertainment, where educational elements integrated into the gameplay, could be subconsciously acquired by the players.

Keywords: Road Safety, Digital Serious Game, Occupational Safety And Health, Sleep Disorders, Driving

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1005239