A Serious Game (Health Unit in Focus) for Enhancing Undergraduate Education on Older Adults' Health: Design and Validation Study

The Health Unit in Focus mobile serious game serves as a specialized pedagogical tool designed to improve undergraduate nursing education concerning the health of older adults. By integrating 75 distinct clinical cases across three core thematic areas, the platform utilizes gamified, problem-based scenarios to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical clinical decision-making. The primary objective of this initiative is to provide nursing students with a scientifically grounded, engaging environment that fosters critical thinking in gerontological care.

Validation efforts involving 27 undergraduate nursing students demonstrate high levels of user satisfaction and technical proficiency. The application achieved an excellent score of 85.75 on the System Usability Scale, with all participants confirming the efficacy of the game-based learning approach. Students reported that the interface is intuitive and the content is highly relevant to their professional development, suggesting that the tool effectively supports the acquisition of complex clinical competencies in a controlled, digital setting.

Despite these positive outcomes, the current scope of the research is limited by its single-center design and a relatively small participant sample. While the game is established as a reliable and valid educational resource, further investigation is required to determine its long-term impact on clinical performance. Future iterations and assessments must address technical constraints, such as the lack of synchronous communication features, and incorporate comparative studies against traditional instructional methods to fully quantify the pedagogical advantages of this serious game within the broader nursing curriculum.