Perspectives of Australian healthcare professionals towards gamification in practice

Aim: Gamification may be an effective tool in motivating sustained behaviour change. This study aimed to explore perspectives of Australian-based healthcare professionals, including dietitians, towards gamification in their practice when assisting patients/clients to achieve health-related goals.

Methods: Semi-structured online interviews were conducted with healthcare professionals. Data was audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, de-identified and thematically analysed to identify key themes and inform the creation of personas.

Results: Six dietitians, two psychologists, two exercise physiologists, one medical specialist, with 1-24 years of work experience, participated. Most participants (n = 7, 64%) were unable to articulate a definition of gamification, however, when offered more context, they could identify examples. Overall, participants were positive towards gamification, regardless of prior experience/exposure. Three themes emerged; (1) Variable familiarity with gamification, (2) Context matters, (3) Barriers hinder engagement/adoption. Stage of career rather than profession influenced participants' views of gamification, as reflected in three characterising personas; 'Joel: Early-Career, Progressive', 'Bella: Mid-Career, Stable' and 'Sam: Advanced-Career, Expert'.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that gamification is not widely used in health practice in Australia. Concerns about participation costs and data privacy are adoption barriers. Promotion of the effectiveness of gamification as a valuable adjunct tool to encourage behaviour change needs support from peak bodies. Embedding gamification in university curricula could better prepare graduates to engage with gamification in future practice. Further research capturing more diverse healthcare professionals' perspectives is required to fully understand the potential of gamification to change health behaviours, and to design feasible gamified solutions.