The play2PREVENT™ (p2P) Lab, a part of the Yale Center for Health and Learning Games, was founded to focus “on the use of ‘play,’ in the form of video game play, for the purposes of health promotion, risk reduction, social good and educational interventions.”
p2P has received funding from the NIH (National Institutes of Health) and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) with generous support from the CVS Health Foundation (corporate philanthropy created by CVS) to advance a shared mission to prevent smoking and vaping in youth through the video Smoke SCREEN.
Students report that after 4 hours of gaming they understand better the dangers of smoking and vaping.
The National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA’s) Helping to End Addition Long-term (HEAL) Initiative awarded a grant to p2P to create a videogame intervention, PlaySmart, geared toward opioid misuse prevention.
Also, from p2P, with funding from the Women’s Health Research at Yale Pilot Project Program, One Night Stan is a fun, multi-player, role-playing card game designed to increase a player’s sense of empowerment regarding sexual encounters and partners. The goal is to increase risk perception of HIV/STI and to insist on condom use and partner testing.
For more information on p2P, go to play2prevent.org.
The University of Wisconsin Madison School of Pharmacy Assistant Professor Olufunmilola Abraham, M.S., Ph.D., in the Social and Administrative Sciences Division has a goal of creating an innovative game to teach high schoolers about safe practices regarding opioid use and the first-ever of its kind to feature a lineup up of anthropomorphized characters learning how to handle the social pressures surrounding opioids.
Dr. Abraham says, “The game gives students a space to have conversations (about opioids) earlier on and be prepared to deal with it and promote the right things among their peers.” A 2013 study found that 80% of current heroin users said their addictions began with prescription meds.