A 7-Module Program Experience for Nurses to Learn Sex Differences in HealthCare through Gamification

Women experience a higher burden for morbidity-driven health conditions compared to their male counterparts. Integrating sex differences in healthcare is crucial as women possess different anatomy, physiology, psychology, and experiences. To reduce such barriers to women’s healthcare, it is imperative to provide up-to-date knowledge on sex based differences. Integrating knowledge related to sex differences in nursing education moves beyond cultural competence and requires a specific set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes to implement. Nurses are uniquely suited to provide care and advocate for women throughout the lifespan as they are the most trusted profession and the largest healthcare profession. To address these educational deficits, our aims are to 1) create a 7-module program for nurses to learn sex differences in healthcare through gamification; 2) Establish the validity of the online learning curriculum in addressing women’s healthcare needs and differences; 3) Evaluate the short-term impact of the curriculum on nursing student knowledge, skills, and attitudes of women’s healthcare differences. This multi-phase study will leverage multi-method data to create and evaluate the gamification education program. The gamification education program will be created through focus groups and expert validity, as well as utilize an innovative gamification platform to improve nursing students’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Specifically, we will establish face and content validity through qualitative methods working closely with our subject matter experts (Phase 1) – followed by a quantitative evaluation of nursing students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes of women’s health differences both pre and post completion of the gamification education program. The gamification education program supports the strategic plan and research lenses of the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health strategic plan - to integrate knowledge of sex influences on health and disease at all levels of training. This gamification education program will provide RNs with comprehensive, specific, expert, and community-based knowledge on how to provide care for women. Additionally, this project is ideally suited for this R25 as it will enhance the knowledge of health professionals on influences to health and disease that are present for women. We anticipate this open-source continuing education program to become a model for women’s healthcare sex-differences in nursing schools across the country, leading to improved health outcomes for women.