JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Serious games play a fundamental role in promoting safe sexual behaviors. This medium has great potential for promoting healthy behaviors that prevent potential risk factors such as Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and adherence to sexual health treatments such as Antiretroviral Therapy (ART). The ubiquity of mobile devices enhances access to such tools, increasing the effectiveness of video games as agents of change.

Objective:

The objective of this systematic review is to understand the evolution of video games categorized as pervasive, focused on promoting safe sexual behaviors from 2000 to 2023.

Methods:

Our review is based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology. We conducted a comprehensive literature search in the Web of Science, Scopus, IEEE, and ACM databases, obtaining 635 articles (546 after removing duplicates). Inclusion criteria were articles published in English, between 2000 and 2023, involving the design, implementation, and/or evaluation of a ubiquitous video game focused on promoting safe sexual behaviors, with qualitative and/or quantitative results, based on persuasive theories and ubiquitous technologies. Review articles, conference papers, or books without available data or quantitative/qualitative results were excluded. After title and abstract review, 51 documents were obtained, and 27 articles meeting the criteria were studied and evaluated in-depth.

Results:

The results suggest that the use of pervasive video games has a positive impact on promoting safe sexual behaviors. This is enhanced by the effectiveness of persuasive theories and the use of mobile technologies as developmental factors that drive the gaming experience. The results indicate that this domain is a growing field that should not be ignored.

Conclusions:

Literature shows that pervasive video games have been effective in promoting safe sexual behaviors. Studies in the area demonstrate a positive trend, indicating substantial growth in scientific community interest in researching this domain, nevertheless, still much to work on. In this context, we advocate for the standardization of design, implementation, and experimentation as essential phases in the creation of video game experiences. These three fundamental aspects are critical in the development of video game-based studies to ensure the reproducibility of experiments.