A randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a board bame on patients' knowledge uptake of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases at the Infectious Diseases Institute, Kampala, Uganda

BACKGROUND: As the number of HIV infections continues to rise, the search for effective health education strategies must intensify. A new educational board game was developed to increase HIV peoples' attention and knowledge to HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) information. The object of this study was to assess the effect of this educational board game on the uptake of knowledge. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial where patients attending the Infectious Diseases Clinic, Kampala, Uganda were randomized to either play the board game (intervention arm) or to attend a health talk (standard of care arm). Participants' knowledge was assessed before and after the education sessions through a questionnaire. RESULTS: One hundred and eighty HIV positive participants were enrolled, 90 for each study arm. The pre-test scores were similar for each arm. There was a statistically significant increase in uptake of knowledge of HIV and STIs in both study arms. Compared to patients in the standard of care arm, participants randomized to the intervention arm had higher uptake of knowledge (4.7 points, 95% CI: 3.9-5.4) than the controls (1.5 points, 95% CI: 0.9-2.1) with a difference in knowledge uptake between arms of 3.2 points (P<0.001). Additionally, both participants and facilitators preferred the board game to the health talk as education method. CONCLUSION: The educational game significantly resulted in higher uptake of knowledge of HIV and STIs. Further evaluation of the impact of this educational game on behavioral change in the short and long term is warranted