By: Leilani Bruce
This week I got to read the article “Engaging African American youth in the development of serious mobile game for sexual health” by Loral Patchen. This article talks about how STDs among adolescents have increased throughout the past decade, while teen pregnancy decreased. Hearing this was a shock, but not unexpected, what was shocking was to hear that STI rates were higher for African American youth and young adults than any other race. This article dives into a study that was conducted for an app that would have young African American individuals interact with and hopefully educate them and decrease the STI rate in that community.
The study started out with community based participants what interacted with the Sexually Active Adolescent-Focused Education (SAAFE) project. This was a highly interactive game that included problem-solving, educational techniques, and consequences to their gamesp[lay decisions. SAAFE was able to be realistic, entertaining, and educational, and seemed to work within the community.
I think this app idea was a great one to come up. I think incorporating serious issues into a game that is both entertaining and fun, is extremely important, especially in today's community because if you want a message to really stick with adolescents, you have to make it one they will remember and I think SAAFE did just that.
Going back to the reason as to why STI rates are higher in the African AMerican community both shocked me and made sense to me. To start, the African American community is already at a disadvantage when it comes to the education system. Especially if you come from a low-income family, it can be hard getting all the necessary education that one needs to stay safe, and this includes sex-ed. I know from personal experiences that most schools that are filled with POC, generally don't have the best education systems in place. I was fortunate enough to go to a school that was predominantly white, and I definitely think I attained more resources, opportunities and educational tools than if I were to go to a predominantly POC school. This sucks to know how different the education system can be and how this lack of resources can have an effect on one race. It is definitely something that needs to change. This is why I wasn't completely shocked when I heard African Americans have a higher percentage of adolescents who contract STDs but it was still hard to hear.
This game is also a great resources for the African American community, and other communities because it is a way for students/ young adults to get information they need from an app they can download on their mobile device, then rely on education systems to teach them this information, especially if that is not an option is some communities. I also think this game is important because it allows people to move at their own pace and sort of figure out things for themselves through an interactive game.
Overall, I think this app Idea is a crucial one to install and offer any and all communities. I do believe a lot of adolescents and less fortunate students can learn a lot from this game if they don't have the resources to learn at school.
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