APPLICATION OF A SERIOUS GAME ABOUT NUTRITION FOR CHILDREN UNDER TWO YEARS OF AGE AS A FOOD EDUCATION TOOL: Development and Usability Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Feeding children under two years of age is often inadequate, one of the main reasons being that parents and professionals possess a lacking knowledge of the subject. Digital games can be a good way to enhance this audience's awareness, presenting new information in a playful and immersive manner. OBJECTIVE This work aims to describe the technical development of the game “Primeiras Refeições”, and to compare the knowledge of university students about feeding children under two years old before and after the application of the digital game. METHODS It was necessary to provide a questionnaire with ten questions about complementary feeding and breastfeeding. The questionnaire had to be answered before and after the mobile game application with the students from undergraduate courses face-to-face, in four distinct areas of higher education at a university in Rio Grande do Sul- Brazil. RESULTS The game was developed in Unity game engine, with original 2D art and commercially acquired sound effects. It is available on the Web and Android platforms. The focus of the game's mechanics was the promotion of breastfeeding, the appropriate consistency of foods for each age, encouraging the non-use of infant formula and ultra-processed foods. Data from 129 students were analyzed, where there was an increase in the average of correct answers from 4.67±2.01 to 5.26±1.89 (p CONCLUSIONS The results show that the Intervention with “Primeiras Refeições” game led to a general increase in academics' knowledge of infant feeding.