ReReki: The Effectiveness of a Gamified Sexual and Reproductive Health Education in Malaysian Adolescent Boys.

Introduction: About one-third of Malaysian adolescents are engaged in sexual activities before the age of 14 that could negatively affect their health. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a gamified sexual and reproductive health education (ReReki) to mitigate early sexual activities amongst Malaysian adolescent boys. Materials and methods: A gamified ReReki module was developed by using the Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation model, along with the Theory of Planned Behaviour. An experimental study was subsequently conducted with 257 adolescent boys, who were assigned to either an experimental (n=130) and control (n=127) groups. The experimental group was exposed to five gamified ReReki modules. Sexual intention (SI) towards pre-marital sex, self-efficacy (SE) on performing sexual activity, social norms (SN) on pre-marital sex, permissive attitude (PA) towards pre-marital sex and knowledge (KN) on SRH were assessed at baseline (P1), immediately after the intervention (P2) and 10 weeks after the intervention (P3). Results: The gamified ReReki module showed significant reduction in the SI score from P2 to P3, with a small effect (ηp² =0.037, p<0.013), SE score reduced from P1, P2 to P3 with large effect (ηp² =0.210, p<0.010). The SN score reduced from P1, P2 to P3, also with a large effect (ηp² =0.104, p<0.010) and the PA score reduced from P2 to P3 with a small effect (ηp² =0.048, p<0.002). Conclusion: The gamified ReReki module was found to reduce the risk factors such as SI, SE, SN and PA it may be useful in SRH education for adolescent boys in various settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]