Development and Usability Evaluation of a Serious Game for Dietary Health Education in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Mixed-Methods Study Based on the SGDA Framework
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Chunying Xie,1 Yiyi Xu,2 Fangying Huang,3 Siqi Shi,1 Chen Liu,1 Jingjing Xiao,2 Shu Cai1 1School of Nursing, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, 510310, People’s Republic of China; 2Guangdong Women and Children Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, 511442, People’s Republic of China; 3Obstetrics Department, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (Huangpu Campus), Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, 510150, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Shu Cai, School of Nursing, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, 510310, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: To develop a serious game for dietary health education in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and conduct its usability evaluation, so as to provide a new auxiliary tool for dietary health education among GDM patients.Patients and Methods: Guided by the Serious Game Design Assessment (SGDA) framework, the script of the serious game was formulated by integrating evidence and literature, and the content of the script was revised through expert group meetings. After optimizing the game script, cooperation with software engineers was carried out to complete the development of the serious game. GDM patients from the obstetric outpatient department were selected as research subjects using the convenience sampling method, and usability evaluation was conducted by adopting the think-aloud method and the System Usability Scale (SUS) respectively.Results: A mini-program of the serious game for GDM dietary health education was developed, with modules including Food Matching Elimination, Glycemic Index (GI) Classification Master, Meal Preparation Game, Gestational Sugar Control Gourmet, and Nutritious Plate Challenge. In the think-aloud test, the effectiveness of 3 GDM patients in completing the target tasks was (87.5%, 75.0%, 87.5%) respectively. Two themes regarding the game user experience were extracted: 1) the game content has practical value; 2) users can obtain an interesting emotional experience. The total SUS score of the serious game assessed by 30 GDM patients was (79.50± 4.17), indicating that the serious game has good usability.Conclusion: The serious game for GDM dietary health education has practicality and interest. It can help patients learn GDM-related dietary knowledge and can be used as an auxiliary tool for GDM dietary health education.Keywords: gestational diabetes mellitus, diet, health education, serious game, usability evaluation
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7130493293
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