A Serious Game for Promoting Positive Attitudes Towards Nursing Homes Among Youth

Abstract

As the population ages, nursing homes (long term residential care facilities for older adults) are facing a crisis. Currently, there are too few people pursuing career opportunities in the field, which can be largely attributed to the negative stereotypes towards aging and nursing homes. Because young people, aged 10-14 years, are at a critical point where they are beginning to consider potential career paths, we investigate the impact of countering negative stereotypes on the attitudes of young people using a serious game. Journey Through Carington House is a point-and-click serious game for young people that focuses on providing positive experiences as a resident assistant in a nursing home environment. In this work, we present the game's design and a study with 22 young people. We find that narrative in serious games can be a tool for influencing young peoples? views of older adults, and to help them better understand nursing homes and consider them as future workplaces.